May 8, 2025 • 31 mins
Tracking Wisdom
Season 1 Episode 24
The Power of Priming: How to Start Your Day with Intention
Recorded - 03/03/25
This episode elucidates an intriguing exercise introduced by Tony Robbins, which is designed to prime individuals for a productive and positive day. The discussion revolves around the multifaceted nature of this exercise, characterized by a unique breathing technique that engages both the body and mind. This practice serves as a precursor to a series of reflective activities, including the cultivation of gratitude and visualization of future goals, thereby fostering a profound sense of presence and intention. Throughout the episode, we explore the physiological and psychological impacts of such rituals, alongside their spiritual underpinnings, ultimately emphasizing the importance of adopting a holistic approach to personal development. Our aim is to inspire listeners to integrate these principles into their daily routines, enhancing their overall well-being and effectiveness in achieving personal aspirations.
Takeaways
- The podcast elaborates on the efficacy of Tony Robbins' priming exercise, emphasizing its structured approach to invigorating both the body and the mind.
- Listeners are encouraged to engage with the practice of gratitude, which fosters a positive mindset and enhances one's perception of abundance in life.
- The hosts discuss the significance of breathing techniques in grounding oneself, highlighting how such practices can induce physiological changes and mental clarity.
- A recurring theme in the episode is the importance of visualization and emotional embodiment in manifesting future goals and aspirations effectively.
Episode Resources
- Official Website of Tony Robbins: Personal & Business Results Coach | Tony Robbins
- Practice Priming daily | Tony Robbins - Tony Robbins created a 10-minute daily exercise called "priming," based on techniques found in yoga and Buddhist mindfulness meditation. Priming is the act of taking time to adjust your thoughts and emotions so you can train your mind to live in your peak state. Tony Robbins uses priming as a part of his daily morning ritual to revitalize his mind and unleash the power of each day. Use it as a part of your own morning ritual to master your emotions and train your brain to accept positivity. This exercise can help you retrain your mind and let go of negativity and past thoughts that are holding you back from your optimal performance and life. It might feel strange at first, but if you practice priming regularly, you’ll experience an incredible shift in the quality of your thoughts and emotions.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:06):
Views, interpretations andopinions expressed are not advice
nor official positionspresented on behalf of any organization
or institution. They are forinformational and entertainment purposes
only. Now join Ryan and Peterfor another episode of the Tracking
Wisdom Podcast.
Good morning everybody. I'm Ryan.
And I'm Peter.
And welcome back to theTracking Wisdom Podcast. This is
(00:29):
episode two in our seriesaddressing my experience with Tony
Robbins. So if this is thefirst episode you're listening to,
go back to last episode. It'llgive you a little more context as
to the scenario that broughtus here. And in that episode we also
talked about three pillars oflasting change. But in this episode
(00:51):
we're going to talk about inan exercise that he discussed during
the seminar, this is the timeto rise Free summit that he does
annually. This was an onlineevent and he talked about priming
quite a bit, but he didn'tactually go through it. So this is
something he referenced as anexercise that he does daily and this
(01:15):
is how he starts his day. AndI chose to put it as the second topic
we talked about because Ithink that some of this exercise
kind of points, points to theat least the energy state pillar
from the previousconversation. So I did share the
video with Peter. This issomething you can find online. Tony
(01:36):
Robbins priming exercise.There's a video on YouTube, but also
on his website, which is whereI found it, there's an audio version
of this exercise. It's a 15minute exercise and it has a number
of kind of stages which Ifound was interesting. And so he
(01:57):
talks about this as somethingthat he's ritualized. I did one and
said, oh, I'm going to startdoing this and I haven't done it
since.
Must be your motivation.
It must mean. Well, it is mymotivation, but also the very first
portion of this, which is avery unique and specific breathing.
(02:19):
I don't know.
No technique.
Technique. Thank you. When Iwould do this at 5:30 in the morning,
I'm feeling very selfconscious and not wanting to be disruptive
to like my sleeping familymembers and stuff. So it's a, it's
a unique breathing and it wasnotable to me. Although Peter raised
(02:44):
something interesting about itthat I was unaware of, but what I
recognize from it. So the, theexercise opens with this breathing
exercise where there's motionand breathing and it's like lifting
your arms up in the air andpulling them back down and it's quick
in breaths and hard outbreaths. It's like over and over
(03:07):
again.
So the in breath is raisingyour. That's what got me Trying to
do the audio first. Like youhave to see a video right before
you rely on the audio. Becauseyou need to know that as you breathe
in rapidly, you're extendingyour hands up over your head, right?
I think so. And then you'repulling your.
Pulling your hands down andbreathing out rapidly.
(03:30):
Right.
Okay.
And he did. He goes throughsort of sets of this where you do.
I don't know how if he timesit, if it's like a minute or if he
counts them out, but there'ssay maybe 45 seconds or a minute
of doing this exercise. Andhe. Then he asks you to basically
sit palms up and kind of relaxinto that state. So the last episode
(03:58):
when we talked about the threepillars, the first pillar was state
and using physiology andmotion to help guide you into a mental
state of presence and being.What I recognized about it, which
is something that I foundinteresting. So basically it does
(04:18):
induce hyperventilation is onething about it. But then he's. He's
asking you to do it, and thenyou sit with your palms up and he's
saying, you know, feel thatcalm and that tingling. And the only
thing I could think of is he'strying to get you high before you.
You go into this like mentalexercise. And it was reminiscent
(04:41):
or it is actually specificallya technique that I learned for public
speaking to manage nerves.When you go out onto stage before
you do that, you do a bit of ahyperventilation exercise to kind
of calm your nerves. And itworks. It does work. And certainly
getting high on oxygen isprobably not the worst thing you
(05:03):
could do. But it was, it wasan interesting observation when he.
We were going through that andI was doing it and kind of correlating
that to basically getting highbefore doing this. But it, it was
very successful in getting theblood moving with the, with the pumping
(05:25):
of the arms and getting thebreath going and the over oxygenation.
Definitely felt physiologicalchanges. Prepping and priming, I
suppose, not to kind of co opthe the title of the exercise, but
setting up the mental statethat then transitions into a number
(05:50):
of visualization and more, Iguess, spiritual kind of exercises.
Now, Peter had mentioned thathe recognized the breathing as akin
to a yogic breathing.
Yeah, I mean, it sounded like,and I'm not that familiar with yogic
(06:14):
practices, but I was aware ofa very energetic style of breathing
and yoga called Fire Breath.And this kind of reminded me of that.
And then there's also thecontrast to, you know, mindfulness
meditation style. Very oftenbefore we come together in a meeting,
(06:37):
we'll we'll settle in and. Andit's a very quiet practice, right?
I mean, it's a completelydifferent thing because you know
what, what I'm talking aboutis not a controlled breathing. It's
just an attention to thebreathing. And then this is, as you
say, it's a specificphysiological manipulation. But it's
just an interesting contrast.
(06:58):
And it does point to kind ofthe secondary observation I had about
the practice, which is whatI'm used to when we talk about a
breathing practice is a muchmore calming breath and slower, bright
breathing, you know, somethingthat is kind of to have sort of the
(07:22):
opposite effect of calming thenervous system and, you know, reducing
heart rate. And in a way itdoes have some similarities in so
far as kind of a calmingeffect. But certainly physiologically
it's basically the opposite.So that was a unique way of beginning
what becomes a fairly mentalexercise afterwards, where typically
(07:46):
I would be more of like themeditative kind of state. And so
that was different for this.And I did. I mean, again, I mentioned
to Peter as, after I did this.So Tony had mentioned it a few times
in passing as he was tellingstories or whatever he was doing
at the time in the, in theseminar. He didn't go into the exercise
(08:09):
specifically, but pointed toit, you know, it came up referentially
and then said, you know, ifyou're interested in priming, I have,
you know, free information onthe website. So afterwards I decided
to look into it and I did it.And I thought it was a very useful
and intriguing exercise thatthen led me to say, oh, I want to
(08:32):
do this and start practicingthis. And of course I never did,
but clearly that's amotivational issue as far as the
last conversation. So afterbreathing. So you get into. You go
through maybe half a dozen ofthese sets, you know, cycles of breathing
(08:55):
and then calming kind ofpresence gaining exercise. And then
the next phase moves into agratitude phase. And this, I mean,
so, you know, last episode Italked specifically about my pleasant
surprise as far as thephilosophical and. And spiritual
(09:18):
underpinnings of, of histechniques. And this was one of those
where immediately going togratitude before you move on into.
I mean, just gratitude ingeneral. Like it, like having a routine
morning practice that gets youin a space of identifying specifically.
And it starts, you know, thinkabout three gifts or three moments
(09:41):
that you can be grateful for.And they can be big or small, near
or far, you know, it doesn'tmatter. It can be something that
happened long ago. It can besomething seemingly trivial. Anything.
You know, I'M happy for freshair. You know, whatever it is, it's
just getting you in thatmindset of recognizing the gifts
and the beauty and theabundance that's around you. So that's
(10:05):
the next phase of this. Ofthis priming exercise. And again,
of course, I recognize thatvery strongly as far as spiritual
content and, and gettingpeople out of scarcity mindset and,
and recognizing and beinggrateful for. And the exercise truly
(10:27):
does send you a. It encouragesyou to really embody and feel the
sensations of that gratitude.It's not just thinking about it and
saying, oh, I'm grateful forthese things, but he really walks
you through trying to teaseout that actual feeling, like, try
and experience that sense ofthat gratitude. This is sort of the
(10:53):
core of the entire exercise isthe embodiment, the. The sensory
experience of these. Of theseelements. So that's the next step
in this priming exercise.Anything to add to gratitude?
No, just to. Just to reflectyour. Your comment that it's a. One
(11:13):
of the deepest and mostwholesome spiritual practices in
general across the board. So,yeah, it's. It's nice to have it
as an element of a daily. Adaily priming practice.
Yeah. All right. So after thegratitude you go through, and again,
it's sort of repetition sets,you know, like. Like exercise sets
(11:39):
is kind of how I. I describethis. We move into. Or, you know,
he moves into this. What Idescribed as a spiritual cleanse
is not how he describes it.And I, I also kind of recognize this
in a way similar to, you know,a chakra energy or a Kundalini kind
(12:05):
of energy thing. But basicallythe idea was imagining sort of the
universal energy coming inthrough your head and moving through
your body into the ground, outthrough your feet, into the earth,
and then back the other wayalmost in this respiratory fashion,
(12:27):
where you're bringing theenergy down out of the universe into
the ground and then doing theopposite, pulling it back out and
out through your head. And itwas how I described it as kind of
connecting spiritually as aconduit between heaven and earth.
And had this sort ofabsorption and radiation, actually.
(12:50):
Radiation, I think, was partof it where he was saying to sense
that energy. And a lot of thisis healing and love and strength
is the words he kind of uses.So that's the. The sensory element
and perception that you'refeeling during this time is kind
of sucking in the love andhealing into your body and feeling
(13:16):
it into your body as healingenergy, but then the sense of radiating
it out and sharing it, which,again, is a Very spiritual exercise
in a number of differentpractices where you are sending out
and sharing the sharing ofthat love and the joy and compassion
(13:40):
that wells up inside throughthat practice, not only sensing it
from around you and acceptingit for yourself, but then sharing
it. And I think that. I meanall of these. That the whole practice,
especially these mentalpieces, which I think I really appreciated
(14:02):
the breathing aspect of it,but it's also the thing that has
kind of inhibited me fromreally implementing this more more
specifically. And maybe Ishould just try and do a more calming
breathing and then go throughthis, because I can certainly see
these other elements being avery useful way to set your day off.
Right, right. Yeah. And that'sthe whole idea, you know, that's
(14:24):
a. The title of Priming isintended to say you're setting yourself
up for a good, strong day byembodying gratitude and feeling and
sharing the love. And then,you know, afterwards, the next exercise.
But if you start your day ingratitude and love, like, you're
(14:46):
that much more likely to havea great day and to see things and
perceive things and experiencethings in a positive light as opposed
to in lack or fear or. Orworse, you know, hatred or anger.
So, yeah, this is. This is aninteresting exercise that has deep
spiritual elements to it. Andagain, that was very surprising to
(15:10):
me. And then the last. I thinkit was the second to last. But primarily
the next main segment of thisexercise is sort of a future of visualization.
And this has sort ofmanifestationy kind of alignment
or sensory elements where nowthat you've acknowledged and recognized
(15:31):
gratitude and abundance inyour life, and you've embodied that
love and shared and radiatedthe strength and love and healing,
and now is the forwardthinking. Now is the time to visualize
and embody the goals andoutcomes that you want for your future.
And so it starts with threegoals or outcomes that you'll experience.
(15:54):
And you experience them asbeing done. So it's. It's a very
visual and imaginary. Butagain, experiencing it, feeling it
as already being completed.And he goes through this. So you
do that. You bring in thevisualization and envision it as
already being complete. Thesethings that seem monumental and maybe
(16:18):
far off in the future, butyou're visualizing them as being
completed. And then youcelebrate. So you bring in the excitement
and the joy and those elementsthat you envision this future state
will carry with them thereason that you're wanting to achieve
that future vision ofyourself. So there's a celebratory
(16:41):
aspect. You see and feel thegratitude and the people around you
and the impact that it has onpeople. And really broadening out
that visualization not just tothe impact on your own life, but
on those around you in societyen masse. You go through this iterative
(17:02):
a few times, really pickingout the key goals and visions that
you want for your future. Andthen as part of this, I kept this
as all kind of part of thevisualization, but it does, it is,
it does have a nuance to itwhere you are finding something you're
proud of. So when was a momentin your life that you were proud
(17:25):
of something or basically someof it was historical, some of it
was forward thinking. So itwent through this iterative process.
Like things you feel, feelproud for the things that you're
going to do, but alsorecalling and bringing in those sensory
perceptions and experiences oftimes when you were proud of whatever
(17:46):
it was you did. And then itgets into a very Tony esque thing
where you're like say yes andlike driving it home and accepting
this as, as part of yourexperience. And he goes through this
process of, of stackingemotion. This is kind of like the
culmination of the exercise,right? So everything was kind of
(18:07):
grounding in, in gratitude andlove. And then you're visualizing
yourself in this future andnow you're stacking these proud moments
and the excitement and thepride and love in your heart. And
it just kind of builds andbuilds and builds through this culmination
(18:28):
event where you're bringingyour energy up, being grateful and
excited and sacred for thepast and the future. And then at
the end it's this big rise up,know, feel it within you. And that's
like the strong I'm gonnarelease. And now I'm like super motivated
and ready to attack life. Sothat's the exercise in its entirety
(18:51):
essentially. It's about 15minutes it takes and it really kind
of brings you through anemotional journey. You know, it starts
you out physiologically likegetting the motion ready. And certainly,
you know, many people wake upand you're tired and lethargic and
so getting that blood movingand getting the oxygenation through
(19:12):
your body and getting, movingright away and then settling into
that gratitude, feeling thelove from, from the ether, but also
sharing it out to all ourbrothers and sisters and then having
that vision of our future thatwe're looking to attack and we're
looking to go out and get andvisualizing that as being complete,
(19:35):
sharing in the pride and theexcitement of those things being
done, those things that wehave done, stacking these Emotions
and just sets you off on theright foot, I guess, you know, and
that's why he does. At leastthat's what he says he does daily.
I believe him. But you know,who knows? I guess Moses in a very
interesting exercise issomething that he referenced a number
(19:58):
of times during that seminar.And it was something that I tried
and something I think now I'mgoing to make a commitment to try
and shift my motivation alittle more. And if it means I have
to change the breathingtechnique, fine. But I mean, this
is something I would like totry and implement better.
So I'm wondering about, youknow, your basement studio. I don't
(20:19):
know what it is. I know, Iknow we talk from your basement sometimes.
So I think of it as yourbasement studio.
It's like, oh, well, I couldtotally do that.
Yeah.
Yeah, I can. I mean, it's justexcuses at that point. I mean, I,
I get, I roll out of bed. I'm,I'm grateful and spoiled enough to
work from home. So I roll outof bed at 5:30 in the morning and
(20:40):
I go sit on the couch with mylaptop and you know, like, certainly
I could go down into my areadownstairs and do this. And I think
in part, I don't for sure, myreservation around it in the morning
has been around the breathingand the activity of that breathing
(21:00):
maybe I'm just not feeling up to.
I mean, it's different. It is,it's very different. If you don't
have a morning breathingpractice, energetic breathing practice.
I mean, I, I can imaginesomeone who has a regular yoga practice
saying like, oh yeah, that's,you know, this is easy. So, yeah,
thank you for sharing thisbecause as I said, I kind of, you
(21:24):
know, half heartedly openedthe video and I saw this energetic
breathe. I'm like, okay, butwhat, what I'm noticing is kind of
this recurring theme we haveof the perennial wisdom or perennial
philosophy or you know, commonthreads or many fingers or this,
this kind of, this whole ideaof recurring ideas. Right. And just
(21:49):
packaging and repackaging thesame ideas. Not because we're lazy
and we're cheating and we'retrying to claim something for ourself,
but because repackaging athing makes it accessible to different
people. And so I'm recognizingstuff in here from my practices now.
For me, the energeticbreathing is new.
(22:12):
Yeah.
I was like, okay, now I'm moreinspired understanding how it fits
with the overall practice. Ifeel more motivated to try this.
Yeah.
So I kind of want to be like,okay, let's, let's have an accountability
partnership and say we'regoing to start doing this for, you
know, between now and the nextpodcast. We're going to try to make
(22:35):
this a practice as much as wecan and then review our experiences
together. But, you know,certainly I already touched on the
gratitude practice and, andeverybody knows that, I mean, from
any religious background orspiritual tradition, there's, you're
going to have a gratitudepractice. There's no one who's going
to say, oh, I've never heardof that before. And you know, the,
(22:58):
the connection to energy isreally familiar to me. And as you
walk through that, I washearing spark words, you know, which
is my, my term for theopposite of triggering. Like triggering
words that are positive. WhereI was feeling sparked into past spiritual
(23:23):
experiences of kind of takingin benefit and radiating. Radiating
a benefit. And of course,we've talked about the five, the
four divine Abroads, theAbodes, the Brahma Viharas. And so
that's part of this MettaLoving kindness practice is radiating
(23:43):
love. It reminds me a littlebit of tonglen, although Tonglen,
Tibetan practice, you'retaking in suffering. And this is,
this is not that, but it isthat idea of taking in and then radiating
out, which is, is very muchpart of tonglen. And then the visualization
(24:05):
is very well. So overall, tome, the breathing was the unique
element of this practice. Irecognize everything else from Green
Tower practice, seven Limbpractice of Green Tara, which I referenced
before, and Jeffrey Martin's,I think it's from his Explorer course
(24:26):
where he has a daily. Let methink for a moment. I think it's,
it is in the Explorer course,but it's definitely in the 45 day
program where he builds adaily practice which looks very much
like this, combining thesedifferent elements again, leaving
out the breathing part.
Right.
Which is interesting. And so,you know, I think it's all about
(24:46):
finding the practice that'spackaged in the way that's most palatable
to you. Right, right. It'snot. Oh, Tony Roberts helped me.
Tony Robinson. RobinsonRobbins. Pardon me. You know, it's,
it's not Tony Robbins is the way.
Right.
Or he's the one guy who knowsthis. It's. He's the guy that works
(25:09):
for you. If he works for you.If he works for you, great. And share
him with other people to findthe other people that he works for.
Right, right. But it doesn'tmean that he's going to work for
everybody. Right, right. Sotry him out. If he works for you,
great. And if not, keep ongoing. And you'll find the package
(25:30):
that, that works for you. Andthis is another lesson from Jeffrey,
is that, you know, justbecause you found something that
works for you doesn't meanthat you don't continue to explore.
Because what works for you, ifsomething is working for you, that
means it's changing you. Andif it's changing you, then it means
it might not always work foryou. Eventually it might get stale.
(25:53):
It doesn't have to, but itmight. And so keep on going. It's
not being unfaithful.
Right.
You know, and so to thatpoint, I'm interested in taking this
on and trying it out. Andreally the way I view it is adding
the breath practice, addingthe energetic breath practice to
(26:15):
this more familiar package ofmorning practices, which look, to
be honest, I've fallen awayfrom. I mean, I do not have, you
know, I was very, verydiligent for at least six months
of a daily practice from, fromthat Jeffrey Martin had put together
(26:37):
and eventually fell off. And Ithink that does go back to motivation
because I think, you know, tobegin with, certainly as part of
the 45 day program, themotivation, my motivation specifically
was I'm going to have anawakening experience. And even after
I have awakened experience,like I'm going to complete this program
and I'm going to be a goodstudent and I'm just doing it. And
(27:00):
then it was like, oh, this ishow I'm going to maintain this. And
there was a motivation there,a kind of context, and then eventually
it fell off because I think Iwas distanced from the program and
I was kind of like, oh, I'vearrived. You know, there's this concept
of, oh, well, I'veaccomplished it. And so it's not
(27:20):
that I don't need thisanymore, but it's just the context
is different. And so then themotivation changes slightly.
Right?
And so then to have you getexcited by your experience of Tony
Robbins and then bring it backup again, it's like, oh, here's a
new same thing kind of. Imean, it's a little different. I'm
not, I'm not saying Tony'sjust doing the same old thing. He's
(27:43):
definitely put his own imprinton it and he's making a specific
contribution. But that's whatall teachers do, right? All teachers
make some specificcontribution. And then probably 90%
of the content is justrepackaged because there's really
a small amount of basic truth,you know, that's infinite, but, but
(28:05):
small in a way. It's thisweird thing. And so you know what
I see is, oh, Ryan's coming tome with this experience that he had
and he's giving me new contextto re. Engage with my practice and
practice that's repackaged ina different way. But it's a recognizable,
it's recognizable as it's theperennial practice. Right.
(28:28):
It's.
It's not like, oh, Tony'sfound this amazing thing that no
one has ever found before.It's like, no, it's the same thing.
It's, it's the wisdom of theages. That's really what you were
excited about?
Yes.
It's like, oh my God, he'sactually using this wisdom. So which
to me, it's a marker ofcredibility. Right, right, right.
(28:48):
It's like he's not trying tomake up something.
Yep.
You know, he is trying to givea unique perspective on it, but it's
based on this perennial wisdomthat is trustworthy.
Right.
I think that's, you know, I, Ifind that reassuring as you did this,
(29:09):
I think is what you weresaying. So very interesting. And.
Yeah, thanks.
No problem. Yeah, so I, I likethe idea of the accountability buddy
aspect. I think I need to goto the three pillars and find my.
Why, like, what is it that I'mlooking for out of this? But you've
mentioned multiple timespractice, you know, with regard to
(29:31):
me. And I think that there'san opportunity to implement some
more structured practice. Andthis is something that I can see
as a healthy way to set thedays off on the right foot. So. Yeah,
so I guess we'll touch baseagain after some time and we'll see
(29:53):
what we can observe from this.But to your point, the inclusion
of that perennial wisdom andthat perennial teachings and continuing
to be both surprised andexcited about how often we find this
in such unique places. And Ithink that one thing that I am happy
(30:14):
about, Tony Robbinsimplementing this kind of practice
and teaching this kind ofpractices while he is, he speaks
about God and stuff. So he'snot like atheological in any way.
But this is a much moresecular delivery of perennial wisdom.
And to me that only means it'sreaching more people, which, which
(30:35):
I'm, I'm very grateful for himtaking that on and offering that
to help get that out to asmany people as possible so that people
can experience the gratitudeand the love and the joy and be successful
in achieving the goals andvisions for themselves that they,
that they envision. If you'reinterested, you can go to Tony Robbins
(30:58):
website. I'll put in the shownotes the link directly to the priming
exercise, but you can alsolook it up on YouTube and. Yeah,
and you know it. If you're onYouTube and you're listening to this
on YouTube and you use thepriming exercise, give us your take
on this exercise and what youthink of it. Until next time. Bye.
Thanks a lot. Bye. Thank youfor listening to the Tracking Wisdom
(31:25):
podcast. Join us next time aswe continue the discussion. Don't
forget to follow us onFacebook, Instagram and YouTube,
and visit www.ethstudio.comfor more information and content.
Views, interpretations andopinions expressed are not advice
nor official positionspresented on behalf of any organization
or institution. They are forinformational and entertainment purposes
only. Now join Ryan and Peterfor another episode of the Tracking
Wisdom Podcast.
Good morning everybody. I'm Ryan.
And I'm Peter.
And welcome back to theTracking Wisdom Podcast. This is
(00:29):
episode two in our seriesaddressing my experience with Tony
Robbins. So if this is thefirst episode you're listening to,
go back to last episode. It'llgive you a little more context as
to the scenario that broughtus here. And in that episode we also
talked about three pillars oflasting change. But in this episode
(00:51):
we're going to talk about inan exercise that he discussed during
the seminar, this is the timeto rise Free summit that he does
annually. This was an onlineevent and he talked about priming
quite a bit, but he didn'tactually go through it. So this is
something he referenced as anexercise that he does daily and this
(01:15):
is how he starts his day. AndI chose to put it as the second topic
we talked about because Ithink that some of this exercise
kind of points, points to theat least the energy state pillar
from the previousconversation. So I did share the
video with Peter. This issomething you can find online. Tony
(01:36):
Robbins priming exercise.There's a video on YouTube, but also
on his website, which is whereI found it, there's an audio version
of this exercise. It's a 15minute exercise and it has a number
of kind of stages which Ifound was interesting. And so he
(01:57):
talks about this as somethingthat he's ritualized. I did one and
said, oh, I'm going to startdoing this and I haven't done it
since.
Must be your motivation.
It must mean. Well, it is mymotivation, but also the very first
portion of this, which is avery unique and specific breathing.
(02:19):
I don't know.
No technique.
Technique. Thank you. When Iwould do this at 5:30 in the morning,
I'm feeling very selfconscious and not wanting to be disruptive
to like my sleeping familymembers and stuff. So it's a, it's
a unique breathing and it wasnotable to me. Although Peter raised
(02:44):
something interesting about itthat I was unaware of, but what I
recognize from it. So the, theexercise opens with this breathing
exercise where there's motionand breathing and it's like lifting
your arms up in the air andpulling them back down and it's quick
in breaths and hard outbreaths. It's like over and over
(03:07):
again.
So the in breath is raisingyour. That's what got me Trying to
do the audio first. Like youhave to see a video right before
you rely on the audio. Becauseyou need to know that as you breathe
in rapidly, you're extendingyour hands up over your head, right?
I think so. And then you'repulling your.
Pulling your hands down andbreathing out rapidly.
(03:30):
Right.
Okay.
And he did. He goes throughsort of sets of this where you do.
I don't know how if he timesit, if it's like a minute or if he
counts them out, but there'ssay maybe 45 seconds or a minute
of doing this exercise. Andhe. Then he asks you to basically
sit palms up and kind of relaxinto that state. So the last episode
(03:58):
when we talked about the threepillars, the first pillar was state
and using physiology andmotion to help guide you into a mental
state of presence and being.What I recognized about it, which
is something that I foundinteresting. So basically it does
(04:18):
induce hyperventilation is onething about it. But then he's. He's
asking you to do it, and thenyou sit with your palms up and he's
saying, you know, feel thatcalm and that tingling. And the only
thing I could think of is he'strying to get you high before you.
You go into this like mentalexercise. And it was reminiscent
(04:41):
or it is actually specificallya technique that I learned for public
speaking to manage nerves.When you go out onto stage before
you do that, you do a bit of ahyperventilation exercise to kind
of calm your nerves. And itworks. It does work. And certainly
getting high on oxygen isprobably not the worst thing you
(05:03):
could do. But it was, it wasan interesting observation when he.
We were going through that andI was doing it and kind of correlating
that to basically getting highbefore doing this. But it, it was
very successful in getting theblood moving with the, with the pumping
(05:25):
of the arms and getting thebreath going and the over oxygenation.
Definitely felt physiologicalchanges. Prepping and priming, I
suppose, not to kind of co opthe the title of the exercise, but
setting up the mental statethat then transitions into a number
(05:50):
of visualization and more, Iguess, spiritual kind of exercises.
Now, Peter had mentioned thathe recognized the breathing as akin
to a yogic breathing.
Yeah, I mean, it sounded like,and I'm not that familiar with yogic
(06:14):
practices, but I was aware ofa very energetic style of breathing
and yoga called Fire Breath.And this kind of reminded me of that.
And then there's also thecontrast to, you know, mindfulness
meditation style. Very oftenbefore we come together in a meeting,
(06:37):
we'll we'll settle in and. Andit's a very quiet practice, right?
I mean, it's a completelydifferent thing because you know
what, what I'm talking aboutis not a controlled breathing. It's
just an attention to thebreathing. And then this is, as you
say, it's a specificphysiological manipulation. But it's
just an interesting contrast.
(06:58):
And it does point to kind ofthe secondary observation I had about
the practice, which is whatI'm used to when we talk about a
breathing practice is a muchmore calming breath and slower, bright
breathing, you know, somethingthat is kind of to have sort of the
(07:22):
opposite effect of calming thenervous system and, you know, reducing
heart rate. And in a way itdoes have some similarities in so
far as kind of a calmingeffect. But certainly physiologically
it's basically the opposite.So that was a unique way of beginning
what becomes a fairly mentalexercise afterwards, where typically
(07:46):
I would be more of like themeditative kind of state. And so
that was different for this.And I did. I mean, again, I mentioned
to Peter as, after I did this.So Tony had mentioned it a few times
in passing as he was tellingstories or whatever he was doing
at the time in the, in theseminar. He didn't go into the exercise
(08:09):
specifically, but pointed toit, you know, it came up referentially
and then said, you know, ifyou're interested in priming, I have,
you know, free information onthe website. So afterwards I decided
to look into it and I did it.And I thought it was a very useful
and intriguing exercise thatthen led me to say, oh, I want to
(08:32):
do this and start practicingthis. And of course I never did,
but clearly that's amotivational issue as far as the
last conversation. So afterbreathing. So you get into. You go
through maybe half a dozen ofthese sets, you know, cycles of breathing
(08:55):
and then calming kind ofpresence gaining exercise. And then
the next phase moves into agratitude phase. And this, I mean,
so, you know, last episode Italked specifically about my pleasant
surprise as far as thephilosophical and. And spiritual
(09:18):
underpinnings of, of histechniques. And this was one of those
where immediately going togratitude before you move on into.
I mean, just gratitude ingeneral. Like it, like having a routine
morning practice that gets youin a space of identifying specifically.
And it starts, you know, thinkabout three gifts or three moments
(09:41):
that you can be grateful for.And they can be big or small, near
or far, you know, it doesn'tmatter. It can be something that
happened long ago. It can besomething seemingly trivial. Anything.
You know, I'M happy for freshair. You know, whatever it is, it's
just getting you in thatmindset of recognizing the gifts
and the beauty and theabundance that's around you. So that's
(10:05):
the next phase of this. Ofthis priming exercise. And again,
of course, I recognize thatvery strongly as far as spiritual
content and, and gettingpeople out of scarcity mindset and,
and recognizing and beinggrateful for. And the exercise truly
(10:27):
does send you a. It encouragesyou to really embody and feel the
sensations of that gratitude.It's not just thinking about it and
saying, oh, I'm grateful forthese things, but he really walks
you through trying to teaseout that actual feeling, like, try
and experience that sense ofthat gratitude. This is sort of the
(10:53):
core of the entire exercise isthe embodiment, the. The sensory
experience of these. Of theseelements. So that's the next step
in this priming exercise.Anything to add to gratitude?
No, just to. Just to reflectyour. Your comment that it's a. One
(11:13):
of the deepest and mostwholesome spiritual practices in
general across the board. So,yeah, it's. It's nice to have it
as an element of a daily. Adaily priming practice.
Yeah. All right. So after thegratitude you go through, and again,
it's sort of repetition sets,you know, like. Like exercise sets
(11:39):
is kind of how I. I describethis. We move into. Or, you know,
he moves into this. What Idescribed as a spiritual cleanse
is not how he describes it.And I, I also kind of recognize this
in a way similar to, you know,a chakra energy or a Kundalini kind
(12:05):
of energy thing. But basicallythe idea was imagining sort of the
universal energy coming inthrough your head and moving through
your body into the ground, outthrough your feet, into the earth,
and then back the other wayalmost in this respiratory fashion,
(12:27):
where you're bringing theenergy down out of the universe into
the ground and then doing theopposite, pulling it back out and
out through your head. And itwas how I described it as kind of
connecting spiritually as aconduit between heaven and earth.
And had this sort ofabsorption and radiation, actually.
(12:50):
Radiation, I think, was partof it where he was saying to sense
that energy. And a lot of thisis healing and love and strength
is the words he kind of uses.So that's the. The sensory element
and perception that you'refeeling during this time is kind
of sucking in the love andhealing into your body and feeling
(13:16):
it into your body as healingenergy, but then the sense of radiating
it out and sharing it, which,again, is a Very spiritual exercise
in a number of differentpractices where you are sending out
and sharing the sharing ofthat love and the joy and compassion
(13:40):
that wells up inside throughthat practice, not only sensing it
from around you and acceptingit for yourself, but then sharing
it. And I think that. I meanall of these. That the whole practice,
especially these mentalpieces, which I think I really appreciated
(14:02):
the breathing aspect of it,but it's also the thing that has
kind of inhibited me fromreally implementing this more more
specifically. And maybe Ishould just try and do a more calming
breathing and then go throughthis, because I can certainly see
these other elements being avery useful way to set your day off.
Right, right. Yeah. And that'sthe whole idea, you know, that's
(14:24):
a. The title of Priming isintended to say you're setting yourself
up for a good, strong day byembodying gratitude and feeling and
sharing the love. And then,you know, afterwards, the next exercise.
But if you start your day ingratitude and love, like, you're
(14:46):
that much more likely to havea great day and to see things and
perceive things and experiencethings in a positive light as opposed
to in lack or fear or. Orworse, you know, hatred or anger.
So, yeah, this is. This is aninteresting exercise that has deep
spiritual elements to it. Andagain, that was very surprising to
(15:10):
me. And then the last. I thinkit was the second to last. But primarily
the next main segment of thisexercise is sort of a future of visualization.
And this has sort ofmanifestationy kind of alignment
or sensory elements where nowthat you've acknowledged and recognized
(15:31):
gratitude and abundance inyour life, and you've embodied that
love and shared and radiatedthe strength and love and healing,
and now is the forwardthinking. Now is the time to visualize
and embody the goals andoutcomes that you want for your future.
And so it starts with threegoals or outcomes that you'll experience.
(15:54):
And you experience them asbeing done. So it's. It's a very
visual and imaginary. Butagain, experiencing it, feeling it
as already being completed.And he goes through this. So you
do that. You bring in thevisualization and envision it as
already being complete. Thesethings that seem monumental and maybe
(16:18):
far off in the future, butyou're visualizing them as being
completed. And then youcelebrate. So you bring in the excitement
and the joy and those elementsthat you envision this future state
will carry with them thereason that you're wanting to achieve
that future vision ofyourself. So there's a celebratory
(16:41):
aspect. You see and feel thegratitude and the people around you
and the impact that it has onpeople. And really broadening out
that visualization not just tothe impact on your own life, but
on those around you in societyen masse. You go through this iterative
(17:02):
a few times, really pickingout the key goals and visions that
you want for your future. Andthen as part of this, I kept this
as all kind of part of thevisualization, but it does, it is,
it does have a nuance to itwhere you are finding something you're
proud of. So when was a momentin your life that you were proud
(17:25):
of something or basically someof it was historical, some of it
was forward thinking. So itwent through this iterative process.
Like things you feel, feelproud for the things that you're
going to do, but alsorecalling and bringing in those sensory
perceptions and experiences oftimes when you were proud of whatever
(17:46):
it was you did. And then itgets into a very Tony esque thing
where you're like say yes andlike driving it home and accepting
this as, as part of yourexperience. And he goes through this
process of, of stackingemotion. This is kind of like the
culmination of the exercise,right? So everything was kind of
(18:07):
grounding in, in gratitude andlove. And then you're visualizing
yourself in this future andnow you're stacking these proud moments
and the excitement and thepride and love in your heart. And
it just kind of builds andbuilds and builds through this culmination
(18:28):
event where you're bringingyour energy up, being grateful and
excited and sacred for thepast and the future. And then at
the end it's this big rise up,know, feel it within you. And that's
like the strong I'm gonnarelease. And now I'm like super motivated
and ready to attack life. Sothat's the exercise in its entirety
(18:51):
essentially. It's about 15minutes it takes and it really kind
of brings you through anemotional journey. You know, it starts
you out physiologically likegetting the motion ready. And certainly,
you know, many people wake upand you're tired and lethargic and
so getting that blood movingand getting the oxygenation through
(19:12):
your body and getting, movingright away and then settling into
that gratitude, feeling thelove from, from the ether, but also
sharing it out to all ourbrothers and sisters and then having
that vision of our future thatwe're looking to attack and we're
looking to go out and get andvisualizing that as being complete,
(19:35):
sharing in the pride and theexcitement of those things being
done, those things that wehave done, stacking these Emotions
and just sets you off on theright foot, I guess, you know, and
that's why he does. At leastthat's what he says he does daily.
I believe him. But you know,who knows? I guess Moses in a very
interesting exercise issomething that he referenced a number
(19:58):
of times during that seminar.And it was something that I tried
and something I think now I'mgoing to make a commitment to try
and shift my motivation alittle more. And if it means I have
to change the breathingtechnique, fine. But I mean, this
is something I would like totry and implement better.
So I'm wondering about, youknow, your basement studio. I don't
(20:19):
know what it is. I know, Iknow we talk from your basement sometimes.
So I think of it as yourbasement studio.
It's like, oh, well, I couldtotally do that.
Yeah.
Yeah, I can. I mean, it's justexcuses at that point. I mean, I,
I get, I roll out of bed. I'm,I'm grateful and spoiled enough to
work from home. So I roll outof bed at 5:30 in the morning and
(20:40):
I go sit on the couch with mylaptop and you know, like, certainly
I could go down into my areadownstairs and do this. And I think
in part, I don't for sure, myreservation around it in the morning
has been around the breathingand the activity of that breathing
(21:00):
maybe I'm just not feeling up to.
I mean, it's different. It is,it's very different. If you don't
have a morning breathingpractice, energetic breathing practice.
I mean, I, I can imaginesomeone who has a regular yoga practice
saying like, oh yeah, that's,you know, this is easy. So, yeah,
thank you for sharing thisbecause as I said, I kind of, you
(21:24):
know, half heartedly openedthe video and I saw this energetic
breathe. I'm like, okay, butwhat, what I'm noticing is kind of
this recurring theme we haveof the perennial wisdom or perennial
philosophy or you know, commonthreads or many fingers or this,
this kind of, this whole ideaof recurring ideas. Right. And just
(21:49):
packaging and repackaging thesame ideas. Not because we're lazy
and we're cheating and we'retrying to claim something for ourself,
but because repackaging athing makes it accessible to different
people. And so I'm recognizingstuff in here from my practices now.
For me, the energeticbreathing is new.
(22:12):
Yeah.
I was like, okay, now I'm moreinspired understanding how it fits
with the overall practice. Ifeel more motivated to try this.
Yeah.
So I kind of want to be like,okay, let's, let's have an accountability
partnership and say we'regoing to start doing this for, you
know, between now and the nextpodcast. We're going to try to make
(22:35):
this a practice as much as wecan and then review our experiences
together. But, you know,certainly I already touched on the
gratitude practice and, andeverybody knows that, I mean, from
any religious background orspiritual tradition, there's, you're
going to have a gratitudepractice. There's no one who's going
to say, oh, I've never heardof that before. And you know, the,
(22:58):
the connection to energy isreally familiar to me. And as you
walk through that, I washearing spark words, you know, which
is my, my term for theopposite of triggering. Like triggering
words that are positive. WhereI was feeling sparked into past spiritual
(23:23):
experiences of kind of takingin benefit and radiating. Radiating
a benefit. And of course,we've talked about the five, the
four divine Abroads, theAbodes, the Brahma Viharas. And so
that's part of this MettaLoving kindness practice is radiating
(23:43):
love. It reminds me a littlebit of tonglen, although Tonglen,
Tibetan practice, you'retaking in suffering. And this is,
this is not that, but it isthat idea of taking in and then radiating
out, which is, is very muchpart of tonglen. And then the visualization
(24:05):
is very well. So overall, tome, the breathing was the unique
element of this practice. Irecognize everything else from Green
Tower practice, seven Limbpractice of Green Tara, which I referenced
before, and Jeffrey Martin's,I think it's from his Explorer course
(24:26):
where he has a daily. Let methink for a moment. I think it's,
it is in the Explorer course,but it's definitely in the 45 day
program where he builds adaily practice which looks very much
like this, combining thesedifferent elements again, leaving
out the breathing part.
Right.
Which is interesting. And so,you know, I think it's all about
(24:46):
finding the practice that'spackaged in the way that's most palatable
to you. Right, right. It'snot. Oh, Tony Roberts helped me.
Tony Robinson. RobinsonRobbins. Pardon me. You know, it's,
it's not Tony Robbins is the way.
Right.
Or he's the one guy who knowsthis. It's. He's the guy that works
(25:09):
for you. If he works for you.If he works for you, great. And share
him with other people to findthe other people that he works for.
Right, right. But it doesn'tmean that he's going to work for
everybody. Right, right. Sotry him out. If he works for you,
great. And if not, keep ongoing. And you'll find the package
(25:30):
that, that works for you. Andthis is another lesson from Jeffrey,
is that, you know, justbecause you found something that
works for you doesn't meanthat you don't continue to explore.
Because what works for you, ifsomething is working for you, that
means it's changing you. Andif it's changing you, then it means
it might not always work foryou. Eventually it might get stale.
(25:53):
It doesn't have to, but itmight. And so keep on going. It's
not being unfaithful.
Right.
You know, and so to thatpoint, I'm interested in taking this
on and trying it out. Andreally the way I view it is adding
the breath practice, addingthe energetic breath practice to
(26:15):
this more familiar package ofmorning practices, which look, to
be honest, I've fallen awayfrom. I mean, I do not have, you
know, I was very, verydiligent for at least six months
of a daily practice from, fromthat Jeffrey Martin had put together
(26:37):
and eventually fell off. And Ithink that does go back to motivation
because I think, you know, tobegin with, certainly as part of
the 45 day program, themotivation, my motivation specifically
was I'm going to have anawakening experience. And even after
I have awakened experience,like I'm going to complete this program
and I'm going to be a goodstudent and I'm just doing it. And
(27:00):
then it was like, oh, this ishow I'm going to maintain this. And
there was a motivation there,a kind of context, and then eventually
it fell off because I think Iwas distanced from the program and
I was kind of like, oh, I'vearrived. You know, there's this concept
of, oh, well, I'veaccomplished it. And so it's not
(27:20):
that I don't need thisanymore, but it's just the context
is different. And so then themotivation changes slightly.
Right?
And so then to have you getexcited by your experience of Tony
Robbins and then bring it backup again, it's like, oh, here's a
new same thing kind of. Imean, it's a little different. I'm
not, I'm not saying Tony'sjust doing the same old thing. He's
(27:43):
definitely put his own imprinton it and he's making a specific
contribution. But that's whatall teachers do, right? All teachers
make some specificcontribution. And then probably 90%
of the content is justrepackaged because there's really
a small amount of basic truth,you know, that's infinite, but, but
(28:05):
small in a way. It's thisweird thing. And so you know what
I see is, oh, Ryan's coming tome with this experience that he had
and he's giving me new contextto re. Engage with my practice and
practice that's repackaged ina different way. But it's a recognizable,
it's recognizable as it's theperennial practice. Right.
(28:28):
It's.
It's not like, oh, Tony'sfound this amazing thing that no
one has ever found before.It's like, no, it's the same thing.
It's, it's the wisdom of theages. That's really what you were
excited about?
Yes.
It's like, oh my God, he'sactually using this wisdom. So which
to me, it's a marker ofcredibility. Right, right, right.
(28:48):
It's like he's not trying tomake up something.
Yep.
You know, he is trying to givea unique perspective on it, but it's
based on this perennial wisdomthat is trustworthy.
Right.
I think that's, you know, I, Ifind that reassuring as you did this,
(29:09):
I think is what you weresaying. So very interesting. And.
Yeah, thanks.
No problem. Yeah, so I, I likethe idea of the accountability buddy
aspect. I think I need to goto the three pillars and find my.
Why, like, what is it that I'mlooking for out of this? But you've
mentioned multiple timespractice, you know, with regard to
(29:31):
me. And I think that there'san opportunity to implement some
more structured practice. Andthis is something that I can see
as a healthy way to set thedays off on the right foot. So. Yeah,
so I guess we'll touch baseagain after some time and we'll see
(29:53):
what we can observe from this.But to your point, the inclusion
of that perennial wisdom andthat perennial teachings and continuing
to be both surprised andexcited about how often we find this
in such unique places. And Ithink that one thing that I am happy
(30:14):
about, Tony Robbinsimplementing this kind of practice
and teaching this kind ofpractices while he is, he speaks
about God and stuff. So he'snot like atheological in any way.
But this is a much moresecular delivery of perennial wisdom.
And to me that only means it'sreaching more people, which, which
(30:35):
I'm, I'm very grateful for himtaking that on and offering that
to help get that out to asmany people as possible so that people
can experience the gratitudeand the love and the joy and be successful
in achieving the goals andvisions for themselves that they,
that they envision. If you'reinterested, you can go to Tony Robbins
(30:58):
website. I'll put in the shownotes the link directly to the priming
exercise, but you can alsolook it up on YouTube and. Yeah,
and you know it. If you're onYouTube and you're listening to this
on YouTube and you use thepriming exercise, give us your take
on this exercise and what youthink of it. Until next time. Bye.
Thanks a lot. Bye. Thank youfor listening to the Tracking Wisdom
(31:25):
podcast. Join us next time aswe continue the discussion. Don't
forget to follow us onFacebook, Instagram and YouTube,
and visit www.ethstudio.comfor more information and content.
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