DIALOGUES by Mindful Endurance Program

On episode 85 I speak with Michael Washington, founder of Usal, "a Los Angeles based community providing experiences & goods for the modern nature enthusiast." It sounds simple but what Michael and his partners have created in one short year is remarkable and inspiring. Changing the way people interact, what they feel is safe and possible for them, and forming a greater connection to nature and other people is no small accomplishment. We dive into Michael's journey from a Texas high school football star to following his intuition and creativity on a unique path to Colorado to the music industry to the launch of Usal. I really loved listening to Michael speak and share his introspective process, the questions he asked himself and the organic way that it all unfolded and continues to each day.

On this intimate and education solo episode, I dive into my current adventures with adrenal fatigue, nervous system healing and how poly-vagal theory ties these together. I also share about my insights into spiritual bypass and how I was unable to see where my work really was, until I couldn't 'do' anything else. I share my insights from Irene Lyon's work and programs and some of my key takeaways from learning about adrenal burnout, the different phases and some of the key remedies that we can do to help our kidneys and adrenal glands (hint: vitamin C). It's been enlighting for me on a deep level and I'm happy to report I'm starting to see and more importantly, feel, some shifts. It hasn't been easy and patience is taking on a new meaning, but I do feel this work specifically on the nervous system, is absolutely essential for true healing and being at our most vital.

Episode 83 features running, coach, content creator, Matt Fox. Best known for his video channel Sweat Elite—I found the YouTube channel through a video documenting a training session with Kristian Blummenfelt, Gutav Iden and Aaron Royle. From there I dove in, started following Matt and his journey towards running a sub-2:20 marathon the insights from his videos. The training sessions he documents are really simple, but have a beauty to the intimacy and also I fell in love with the sound of footsteps, breathing and subleties of the documentation. On our episode we dive into Matt's recent run camp in Kenya, his new approach to running by feel, his favorite shoes, his vision for Sweat Elite and his hopes for Osaka. We recored a couple weeks before the race and he's since run that race and has his sights on London, so check out his channel for the race recap and what he's up to after the episode.

After trying to catch up with Knox for the last year, we decided the best way to link would be to jump on Zoom and record. Episode 82 is quite casual as we dive into a variety of topics from Knox leaning into coaching, 'The List' and the experience of creating a safe space on the running track for women specifically. Knox shares about his most recent trip to Africa and how that shaped his purpose and vision moving forwards, a return to writing and all the while targeting sub-2:30 marathon this year. I always enjoy speaking with Knox, the way he thinks and articulates his experience. There is a curiosity, openness and boldness that I appreciate, find inspiring and I hope you enjoy the conversation as well.

On episode 81 I speak with Bec Wilcock, we dive into her journey into sport and triathlon as a teenager and having to take a full year off after a massive burnout. Bec shares how this inspired her to learn and study, get into training and the opportunity with Nike that brought her to LA from Australia. Bec shares her perspective on coaching, working with different types of people, developing self-belief and how this lead to the launch of Her Sports and Her Trails. Bec is also about to give birth to her second child, and we go into her journey and development of a five-phase program that starts before pregnancy and continues into the 'fifth' trimester and how important rest and recovery truly is.

Also please excuse the brief disruption mid-episode by our new robot-vacuum Ewan.

On episode 80 I dive in with Christian Straka, a mindset coach for Adidas globally, founder of MindSize and overall inspiring character. Christian shares a couple of the 'big' experiences he had that shifted his perspective and awareness, and inspired a deep curiosity into all things mind-training. Since he's continued to evolve his own coaching process, bringing together spiritual practices, physical performance in a unique way for individual clients and Adidas communities.

On this long overdue solo episode I share in-depth about my process of accepting I don't believe I'm good enough and how that's manifested throughout different aspects of my life from work to triathlon to my spiritual journey. I share about retirement from triathlon, for now, and my plans for more play in 2023. I also share about MEP and our upcoming retreats schedule for 2023.

I reached out to Sarah a couple months ago, soon after the birth of our child looking for some help and support. I found myself in a very closed and contracted place and after googling 'heart opening' I found her podcast on Sounds True, listened, and immediately downloaded her book, Heart Minded, How to Hold Yourself and Others in Love. I suppose it was the right time and the book was exactly what I needed. After listening through twice back to back, I emailed Sarah and was grateful to hear back. It was a couple months since that email, many lessons and the result ended up being more of a conversation about her experience and process, my own and a sharing and exploration of nurturing and keeping an open heart in the midst of both calm and turbulent waters.

On episode 77 I speak with Steve Rio about psychedelic medicines and drugs, how his life journey lead him to where he is today and the work he's committed to sharing with the world and how it continues to evolve. I really enjoyed speaking with Steve about how the different parts of his life have come together for him to facilitate life-changing experiences for people using breathwork, ecstatic dance, hot and cold therapy, nature immersion and of course the "God molecule" of DMT. He clarifies for me the differences between the types of DMT and I share a recent experience that was quite challenging in my own integration, and finally we touch on one of the most Universal core wounds, safety.

This episode is supported by Open, a mindfulness app with guided meditation, breathwork and movement practices delivered in a beautiful platform. Try 30 days for free with my code: www.withopen.com/RYANWILLMS

On this episode I connect with Nick Lo and Rob Smith, co-owners of Vancouver Run Co and partners in a new digital-based run community inspired by Web3 and NFT's. RAYA or Run as You Are is what has brought us together, but we dive into both Nick and Rob's unlikely career paths, their running history and how they found each other with a common goal of creating something they both wanted, a run community. Nick shares how he took a deep dive into NFT and Web3 and how that sparked an idea which has evolved a few times in the last year and a half to become RAYA, which is set to launch in the coming days with some big partners such as On Running, Adidas, Ciele, Satisfy and Salomon.