Mind Body Gem

Special guest: Trevor Torrance – former basketball player, founder of 'BMore'

Trevor and Rokki Bonner discuss Trevor's journey from being a professional sportsman to becoming a founder of BMore, an organization specialized in performance development. Being at his highs and lows during his athlete career, Trevor came up with handy methods to break blocks and self-made limits in order to achieve more and perform better overall.

-      Dream of becoming famous

Born and raised in Perth, Australia, Trevor dreamed of becoming famous. At the age of 16, he ended up in a selection process for talented basketball players. More than a decade later, our guest experienced the world of semi-pro and pro athleticism, crossing the globe all around. After that period, he decided it was no longer what he could do.

-      Going from sport to corporate

After his basketball career, Trevor found himself in naturopathy. Realizing he has a competitive background and a healer inside of himself, he decided to spread the knowledge in performance development. He started his mission by helping individuals and organizations to get where they want to be.

-      "I am not good enough."

Every person brings this sentence into their life at some point. In these situations, people tend to accuse themselves of something they are not guilty of or responsible about. Trevor finds this issue to be the result of our brain that "likes to know what is going on." If that is not the case, the brain is making up negative stories, creating defeatism within our bodies. At this very moment, we should locate that negative energy, reverse it to our advantage, and create something positive out of it.

-      Stop overloading your brain, make it simple.

The most important thing we should do is to set a clear intention at the beginning of our day. Setting a bright intention helps us to send it right in front of our brain, and it will set us up for success throughout the day. Setting simple and clear plans can free us from stress.

-      Embrace the sense of freedom

Trevor's organization 'BMore' helps people find their inner peace and improve feelings of fulfillment. His team guides people to free themselves through training, such as nature therapy, massages, yoga, long walks, doing exercises, and detoxing from mobile devices. That way, people can reconnect with the essence of being a human and set their goals and plans clearly. Trevor concludes that self-care is the basis from which we can build healthy lives.

Follow Trevor's work on: https://bmore.com.au/.

Connect with Mind, Body, Gem guests and upcoming workshops on IG: @Fit_to_navigate

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

• So many flowers in God’s garden

Sylvia remembers her brother went to prison when she was young. She shares that when a person goes to prison, the whole family goes to prison. After that, she lost her husband when their child was only six months old, soon after two sisters and two brothers. Consequently, she started doing drugs and alcohol, coming to the point where she almost saw herself dying. She decided to go to the hospital and start serious rehab treatment.

• Starting a clean life

After the rehab, she felt that she should go to church to connect with God and start praying and serving. That was the moment she went to the prison ministry. She faced many people from similar dysfunctional families, all going through life alone. She wrote a letter to a church asking them to send Bibles to prisons, translated from 16th century English to modern. That way, people could understand wise words and feel hope for all of them.

• Walking in her path.

 She started the whole mission focused on how people shouldn’t be numb and blind to their problems. Church and the Bible are just numerous paths that lead to empathy and love. Wise words already exist, and we just need to understand and use them in everyday life. 

If I’m not the problem, there is no solution, one of the recovery principles.  Reverend Sylvia shares that anytime I’m looking outside myself for the problem, nothing will get better. Reverend Sylvia  goes on to share the only thing I we can change is ourselves, our thinking and our reactions to others. 

• Live the life that makes the difference.

Reverend Sylvia shares that self-care is the most important thing. Only if we are good for ourselves can we be good for the world. God is the increase and she believes the outcome of her work is in Gods hand and she is simply here to water and plant her mission.  Reverend Sylvia believes to change systems we first have to impact people in the system which is her impact in this world. 

Follow Sylvia's Journey on IG: @

Connect with Mind, Body, Gem guests and upcoming workshops on IG: @Fit_to_navigate

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• Different life

Letha was born to a 15-year-old mother in Omaha, Nebraska. She was only a child but already helping her mother a lot and doing many household chores. After college, she realized she wanted to have a different life than her mother. Her strong will to help people grew further through nursing. From that experience, she claims she gained some true qualities like love and care for others and the discipline she still has today.

• Starting a home care agency

She opened a home care agency in 2008. After a short time, she made 2 million dollars a year. Even though the business was going great, she and her partners didn’t share the same business ideas, which caused the end of the partnership. She realized how important it is to choose the right people to partner with. 

• Overcoming systemic racism

Letha describes her emotions during her career as a business owner and how it feels to be a black person in the room. Also, she faces different types of discrimination in the business world, since black people obviously aren’t given the same chance to develop their business ideas. She concludes that fighting injustice and making continuous efforts are the only possible way to make it happen.

• Pandemic vs. service industry

As a result of the global COVID pandemic, anxiety overwhelmed people, especially business owners, who had extra responsibility at the time. With her wife, Letha reoriented to a delivery system and still stays in touch with the customers to keep the Bake me happy business running. As a result of the pandemic, Letha reimages what a successful business looks like, focusing on keeping operations and space small.  

• Non-stop planning

Due to the uncertainty of our world, Letha concludes that we need to keep all the options open. That way, we won’t be surprised no matter the difficulty we may encounter in the future. After all, mutual support in the community is essential, and it is the silver lining of our cloud.

Follow Letha's Journey on IG: @bakemehappygf.

Connect with Mind, Body, Gem guests and upcoming workshops on IG: @Fit_to_navigate

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• Looking at the past

Deja is a mother of five children. She reveals she was not always in harmony with her self-care. What’s more, she neglected her needs for a long time, being in abusive relationships, having sex at a young age, etc. Thankfully, she saw the end of that period when she realized she needed to work on self-care.

• Love is in the air, everywhere.

Together with her mother and sister, Deja opened a spa center to benefit both professionally and personally. The professional benefit is, of course, running a successful business, but the personal one is more important. Being together with one’s family is the feeling that no money can replace, which drives the success of their business.

• What is self-care?

Deja defines self-care as a healthy relationship with oneself. Due to the modern way of life, which often leads to burnouts, Deja says that authenticity is quite endangered among people today. We all go to work, try to earn more, and climb the career ladder, but we forget we are much more important than the money itself. If we don’t remember what actual values are, we will likely get into a deep depression that no money can solve. Self-care means reestablishing valid values in our mind and body. And this results in strengthening our relationship with ourselves.

• Always find the time for yourself.

We live in capitalism, and most people still work for others, not for themselves. Although challenges are always on the path to success, Deja also thinks we should accept new challenges if we are ready for them, and we will be prepared only if we are in love with ourselves. That is why people should change the world from personal to global, and that is why self-care is crucial for all of us.

Follow Deja's Journey on IG: @bereplenish.

Connect with Mind, Body, Gem guests and upcoming workshops on IG: @Fit_to_navigate

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• Steps into the independence

Born in Beijing, China, Hoy remembers her early childhood not being so much fun. At the age of 13, she left her family for the first time, going to Singapore. After that, she arrived in Ohio to begin studying Computer Science Engineering at the University of Toledo.

• Language barriers starting domino effect barriers

Hoy explains exactly how difficult it was to blend into a new environment without knowing the language. One example that vividly describes this problem was the one where she ate pizza day after day because that was the only food she could point her finger at without needing to say anything else.

• Searching for acceptance

Describing her efforts to become a part of the community, she claims she made some wrong decisions that led her to prison. After ending up in such a horrible place, she felt like it was just a bad dream. Unfortunately, reality woke her up in the same, unenviable situation.

• Not just a number

Hoy soon realized that being imprisoned doesn’t need to be something necessarily bad, and that she could learn a lot from that experience. Also, she started bringing in different habits into her daily routine, such as working out and strengthening her body, both physically and mentally. That was the time she started thinking that everything in our life happens for a reason.

• Faith is the key

Hoy started to read the Bible, which was her best friend and companion on this undesirable journey. After getting out of prison, she met Rokki and became a member of her sisterhood. With all the mutual care and love, she finds it much easier to make future plans. One of them is to become a trainer and share her positive attitude with others that may be facing troubles.

Follow Hoy's Journey on IG: @hoyzhang

Connect with Mind, Body, Gem guests and upcoming workshops on IG: @Fit_to_navigate

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• Born with art

As a daughter of a high school music teacher, Sheri finds that art influenced her life path, as she has always been searching for the good in people and their work. When she grew up, she moved to Columbus, where she tried to connect with the community. She did it successfully thanks to taking part in a bowling club, and Chicago line dancing where she met many people with similar interests. She also took part in poetry nights, and she traveled a lot, feeling that her new life became meaningful quickly.

• The leader with rolled-up sleeves

Sheri is a leader of the Maroon Arts Group (MAG), which uplifts Black creatives. She says that being a woman means pushing rather than waiting for something to happen. Thanks to that attitude, she became a leader, and she doesn’t want to change her attitude now. She believes it’s not as essential to be a leader as it is to be helpful in your community, playing your role as best as possible.

• Impact on your community

Sheri thinks it’s essential to always organize gathering activities in a community since it can only encourage individuals to reach their full potential. Because of that, they created many seasonal events and programs, including young artists hosting their music shows, gallery exhibitions, yoga and fitness classes.

• No walls

Since people tend to protect themselves from others by building imaginary walls around their personal lives and emotions, they forget to make a strong foundation under their own feet first. Sheri's organization decided to break the barriers between neighbors and the community to build a strong foundation for mutual support. Along with that, they made a lot of garden spaces, where people can connect with nature, as the meta foundation of the world itself.

• The bright future is near.

Rokki and Sheri conclude that the most critical missions will be accomplished. Next generations now have someone to look up to, and they have a healthy and preserved community where Black people’s future dreams can come true.

Follow Sheri's Journey on IG: @sheri415.

Connect with Mind, Body, Gem guests and upcoming workshops on IG: @Fit_to_navigate

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• Ending up at the bottom – three times

Julius remembers ending up imprisoned after getting caught for drug dealing. He did not seem to follow signs for getting back on the right track, so he got imprisoned two more times, now considering his acts ridiculous. Having been jailed for four years, he claims he was not one of the men who were reading the Bible as a hobby to pass the time, throwing it in the trash after getting out. It changed his way of living, spreading his horizons, and understanding the importance of making the right choice.

• The right things to do

We all have different mindsets, some of which are not the best for us, but there is always the chance to change it and start living the right way. At the end of the day, we are all trainers of our own minds. Healthy minds will make us ready to follow the right path and skilled to answer and overcome all the temptations.

• Finding the right way, step by step

After getting out in 2010, he found himself having nothing – no money, no job, no love. Soon, he got the job for $7.7 per hour and started attending Sunday school. He met his wife there, marrying her not so long after.

• Oxymoron – planting the Church from the jail.

With entrepreneurship in his blood (drug dealing), Julius soon realized that he needs to use this capability and turn his idea into reality. In 2018, with a considerable help from his wife, he started the Church. It turned out to be a great idea, as they soon got lots of people correlating with them, having similar life problems, ideas, and plans for the future.

• Allow God to lead the changes.

Sharing love, trusting in God, believing in yourself, and always searching for a sunbeam – these are only some of Julius’s ideas of the world we should live in. We are having all of these as the everyday to-dos can make one’s life much happier and easier to live a fulfilled life in God.

Follow Julius on IG: @iamchurch614.

Connect with Mind, Body, Gem guests and upcoming workshops on IG: @Fit_to_navigate

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• Back in prison

Jessica remembers ending up imprisoned for the second time. That was the time she realized that she didn’t want to make the same mistake twice. The second time she got out of prison was going to be her starting point toward improving her life habits and professional skills – the beginning of her new life.

• ‘I want to be like you.’

One event made a big difference. During Jessica’s class, she was amazed by her instructor’s shape and life habits, so Jessica said that she wanted to be like her. To her surprise, the instructor looked her in the eye and said she believed Jessica would achieve that. 

Thankful for such strong support from other people, she promised herself never to give up on her dreams, which she had put on hold during incarceration. After that, she did not miss a class, and soon after became a trainer.

• It was the mother-side that made the decision.

Another situation was a vital sign for her. When asked by other women, what was the most important thing in her life, she immediately responded: “My children.” Women just looked at her and disagreed, and Jessica felt deeply offended, but that was the moment she realized that her way of living wasn’t right for her kids. She should be around them and give them support, watching them grow up in a healthy family full of love.

• Show me who your friends are, and I will tell you what your future is

After surrounding herself with all those positive people, Jessica continued fighting for every day, for every training, for every moment of her life. She soon found a job in the gym and became the head coach, which was just the natural chain of events for such a strong-willed person.

• Love is in the air

Numerous things led to Jessica’s present situation in life, and one of them was love. Today, she is finally happy with her relationship status and engaged to a man who showed a tremendous amount of respect for her reentering the community and support during the most critical moments in her life.

Follow Jessica on IG: @iamjessdoit

Connect with Mind, Body, Gem guests and upcoming workshops on IG: @Fit_to_navigate

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• Before vs. after pandemic

Dezi thinks motherhood is always a full-time activity, which is not changing due to pandemic. The only difference is that people, not just mothers, need to learn how to live indoors, without a lot of outdoor activities, and make their time spend indoors more creative. She thinks that now is the great time to (re)connect with our loved ones.

• It's all about health and wealth

Dezi is grateful for her family being healthy and she explains why health starts from her garden, cultivating and eating healthy food in order to be physically able to enjoy activities that include mental involvement. As a mother, she is teaching her kids to be good human beings, and she considers it to be a life garden, where we should teach and treat sharing as the priority to grow happier and healthier.

• Cryptocurrency investing

Investing in cryptocurrencies for Dezi is more like learning patience, not just the way to earn money. She compares and contrasts herself to 'money people' and finds that people tend to give up when the future is not bright. Her attitude is to wait and see how everything turns out. Lessons learned from one particular situation can always be implemented in different contexts in the future and can lead to great improvement in other aspects.

• Traveling

Dezi considers traveling to be a way of learning new things and experiencing the unpredictable. Her opinion is that everything we need for traveling is a passport, sometimes not even that. We just need to step out from our comfort zone, travel to the next city, see how things are different. This may not always be a big difference, but it’s still noticeable.

• Advice for freeing our minds

Even though in the media we see lots of people that have an influence in our society, we should always believe in ourselves – not the president, celebrities, or anyone else. We should also have a free mindset where we don’t have any bosses. Someone will definitely be in charge, but we should not look at him/her as the boss, only as our co-worker. Setting ourselves and our life free is priceless, and we should always do everything we can to achieve that state of mind.

Follow Desiree's Journey on IG: @dezispeaks.life

Connect with Mind, Body, Gem guests and upcoming workshops on IG: @Fit_to_navigate

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