John Denney - Enhancing Athletic Performance With Meditation And The Harmony Exercises

John Denney is the Minister of Unity of Jupiter and a coach for Olympic-level athletes. He has been practicing The Harmony Exercise, a meditation technique, since 1985. John is also a paddleboarding enthusiast and has had the opportunity to surf with some of the world's best surfers, including Laird Hamilton and Kelly Slater.

Visit John on his website: https://theharmonyexercise.com/
Also on his website: https://john-denney.com/

Key Takeaways:

• Unity Church is a metaphysical Christian church that focuses on practical Christianity and the application of spiritual principles in daily life.
• The Harmony Exercise is a meditation technique that helps control the body's physiology through conscious breathing and positive thinking.
• Most athletes struggle with controlling their temper and tension, but learning to regulate their breath and thoughts can improve their performance.
• In surfing and other sports, being in a state of flow and surrendering to the power of nature can lead to peak performance.
• Daily practice and finding inner peace are essential for personal growth and making a positive impact on the world.

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Transcript

0:33

Welcome to Native Yoga Toddcast. So happy you are here. My goal with this channel is to bring inspirational speakers to the mic in the field of yoga, massage bodywork and beyond. Follow us @nativeyoga and check us out at nativeyogacenter.com All right, let's begin. Welcome to Native Yoga Toddcast. My name is Todd McLaughlin and today I have the pleasure and privilege of bringing John Denney here in studio for a live podcast session. John is a minister of Unity of Jupiter. He has seven years straight of daily meditation practice under a technique called the Harmony Exercise. He is a paddleboarding enthusiast. And he was the first person I saw paddleboarding here in this area years ago, when it was just starting to take off in Hawaii. He had moved here from Hawaii with his family. His wife, Barry is a really wonderful student here. And so I remember just thinking like, Hey, I gotta get one of those and, and I got a chance to meet John. And it's been a real pleasure over the years to cultivate a friendship. So I'm just really happy to have this opportunity for him to be here. He coaches Olympic level athletes, so he is in essence a coach. And so I'm excited for you to have an opportunity to listen to some of his ideas and strategies. And on that note, find them on his website, theharmonyexercise.com. Also on his personal website, John-Denney.com. All right, well, let's go ahead and begin. So excited to have John Denney here with me in studio at Native Yoga Center in Juno Beach. And John, thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to join me today. What What have you been up to lately? I feel like when we had this conversation organized, you got invited to go to Texas to get involved in like a Pickleball Championship? Yeah, we set up our first time I got invited to go to the world Pickleball Championships just as a spectator, the largest pickleball tournament on the planet right now. 4000 competitors. Wow. saw the best to the best. Nice. Yeah, number one girl in the world is only 16 years old Ohio Ray. Wow. Oh my gosh. Do you play yourself a little bit just for fun? Yeah, gotcha. How about you? That's cool. Just just a couple times. I've gotten out there and tried it. And it seems pretty fun. The combo of tennis and ping pong, it seems like, Yeah, that's cool. And you know, I'm really excited to have this chance to talk a little bit about a recent development for you, which is you're now the Minister of unity of Jupiter. And can you talk a little bit about how you got that role and what you're doing with that role currently? Well, I am I started on December 1. Oh, nice here. So all right. For about the last year, I have had a vision to get this position. So I've been a guest speaker about 25 times last year. Gotcha. And I've been a member of this church since we've moved here about 14 years ago from Hawaii. Nice. And we've always had small churches, Barry and I we had one. You know, we had one in Colorado. We had one on Maui. And then we have this one. And I've just always been drawn to it. And I was served on the board for many years. And people enjoy my guest speaking and one thing led to another so next year to give it a try. Amazing. I don't want to assume that everybody knows what Unity Church is. I feel like it's universal. Like everybody already knows that term. But how would you define Unity Church? Well, Barry Barry says it's where the spiritual mutts go the spirits but with those with but unity is metaphysical Christianity. It's what I would I like to call common sense or practical Christianity, in my opinion if you know if my religion or whatever, it doesn't help me today with my, my relationships, my business, the things going on in my life. Well, what's the point in it? Yeah, yeah, so unity and the film wars really are practical Christianity? How do we apply it? How do we use affirmations in our life? How do we use denial in our life? How do we use thoughts? How do we use I love you instead of I hate you. And understand that it makes a difference inside you know, those are? Those are very different feelings yet. They're just three words. But the feeling that goes along with them is huge. Nice. And you said you've had an opportunity to like offer 25 talks or is this like on a on the day of the service? Which I'm guessing is Sunday? Yeah, when you need to. So last year, there were 52 services at the at the church, and they were a board led ministry. So we had guest speakers each and every week. And finding good guest speakers is hard. You know, there's there not a lot out there. And so I ended up being sort of the hanker man. Yeah. 52 weeks, I spoke about 25. Oh, yeah. Gotcha. And you know, and I got better and better at it. And people in the congregation kept saying, Well, why aren't you it? Why don't they hire you? Yeah. And I'm like, Well, you know, my hats in the ring. That's all I can say. Yeah. And you're not a Unity minister. I am a minister from the Academy of spiritual awakening. And I've done numerous courses. But I'm not a Unity minister. So I had to go under something called a special dispensation package. But it's all very common. Yeah. And it's worked out really well. That's cool. How do you formulate your speech and or talk that you're going to give like, what is your workflow process? If you know, say, if i Today's I mean, let's just say it's, it is Thursday and say, they say, okay, Sunday, you're speaking? Can you within one day, come up with a topic and formulate your speech? Or does it take a process of a week or two to write it or come up with your formula? It's a great question. I believe it takes for really good 20 minutes sermon, probably takes me 15 to 20 hours, from conception to getting it on paper, to having it, you know, a logical presentation. Yeah, we go through it once or twice. Yeah, um, yeah, it's tremendously time consuming. But my process so this weekend, we have Thanksgiving coming up. Yes. So a lot of times, my theme will come from what's going on in the world. So this week, my topic is called giving and receiving Nice. So we're going to talk about giving thanks. And you get what we give. Yeah. Good playing client. What was the last one that you did? What was the topic that you delivered on the last time you got a chance to speak in front of the group? The last topic, it was called at your command? And it talks about the universe responds to our belief and our commands, not our begging so we can go back? Please do this for me. But are we tell the universe I am this? Thank you. And we affirm what we want? So it's, it's affirmative prayer rather than petitionary? Prayer? Gotcha, gotcha. Gotcha. Does Unitarian also incorporate different faiths as well? Because you I heard you say like a metaphysical Christian based in church. And I've, I was under the impression that Unitarian had, you know, maybe someone from Islam or someone from Judaism or not Unitarian, Unitarian, is actually Christian, or unity, and unity. Yes, it takes the best of all religions. So you'll find Buddhism. In Unity Church, you'll find Taoism you'll find many different religions. And what the film was believed as there was good in all religions, there was the same one god one presents found in all religions. Don't use Do you think that's absolutely essential when we watch global conflict that we're viewing nowadays, that if we could somehow come to a common ground, to understand that we're all moving in the same direction coming from the same place headed in the same direction? Do you think it's essential or? Oh, I absolutely think is essential. You know, and that's that idea of coming together into one mind unit. Look at the United States unity, all the things we aspire to, is this coming together. It's what you teach people coming together, and I think it's It's so important right now. It's unbelievable. Yeah, I mean, yeah, the world is amazingly divided. Yeah, good point. And you are involved in a type of meditation called the harmony exercise. Do I have that right? Well, here's the here's a beautiful twist of fate. In 19. When I graduated college, I moved to California, graduated in 1985. Went out to California, and I met a man named Carol writer. And he was the astrologer to the stars. He was running Nancy's astrologer, he was the astrologer to all Hollywood's rich and famous, and my mother said, put on a tie and go to his house. Well, within a few months, he was bringing us to his church, and it was called the Cairo theologian, Church of faith, the hand of God. And it turns out that that the guy who created that church, and the guy who created unity Myrtle, and Charles Fillmore, they were friends. I've heard them write about each other. And so it was incredible. And so the harmony exercise, which is a meditation, he taught me in 1985. I've been doing it since 1985. Nice. There's a video on YouTube of the night I met him a while at his house. Gotcha. I am saying happy birthday to someone I've never met didn't even know if it was a man or a woman. It was the craziest thing ever. Yeah. And it happens to be 40 years later. Oh, wow. On YouTube, gotcha. If you didn't, you didn't put it out there. Someone else recorded it and put it out there. And you were searching, or they sent you the link and said, Look, check this out, or how did you find how did you bump into that? So in about 19, about 2014 13, I decided this was my calling. I've got to pursue this mission, and, and share this exercise and really get this word out there. So in 2015, I met this guy, Dan, Coach Dan, he's a big football coach here in the area. And he had seen the harmony exercise. And within a day, he'd done this research. And he'd found some other people who knew about it. Yeah. And one thing led to another and, and I just put it out there. And I kept asking for signs in one day after another Todd, there was just another sign, you know, sign. Have you heard of this? And the book had only been printed in 2014. That video that I'm talking about had been uploaded in 2011. And the guy who uploaded it died in 2013. Oh, wow. So why did he even bother putting it? Yeah, that's Oh, yeah. And I and sometimes I'm like, it's like, I feel like the universe was like, John, you need to have this on the internet. Yeah. You know, that is really cool. That is cool. Yeah. Now amazing. Can you give a little bit? Well, you have two websites that everybody can check you out at, and you have the harmony exercise.com. And then you also have John dashed any.com. So if if we want to follow you or visit you, which website should I go to first? Well, it depends what you're looking for. If you're looking for a little coaching, we go to the John Denny website, where I offer Heart Math and different ways of self regulation. So in about 2010, I became a HeartMath provider, and I developed a program called brainstorm Maui. And it was a little bit of a sort of life coaching program, where you found calm in your, in the, in the eye of the storm to find calm and your life. And it was really successful. And I was just like, wow, you know, I need to keep adding to this. And then the meditation added to that, and just all these different things. So now I work with different athletes. I seem to I definitely excel in individual sports, where there's, you know, tennis, golf, anywhere where you have to take a little bit of time down so you have time to think and get in your own way. Yeah, anytime where there's self sabotage potential. Yeah, this is where I kind of got people to write tools. Nice. And so you've been able to work with some professional athletes, and quite a few of them. Gotcha. Nice. And the Olympics. I'm working with a couple of sailors actually. And they were in the Japan Olympics, and now she's going to the Paris Olympics. I work with some different professional golfers and on the LPGA the PGA nice, so it's great. What do you find is one of the main stumbling blocks that athletes seem to encounter. I know obviously, each person will have their own challenges probably based on their upbringing and things that maybe their their parents had taught them, but is there something that that you find is like a common thread. Yeah, that you coach on. There's a very common thread. Most people never learn how to control their temper intention. And I think is, you know, most people never learn how to take a good breath. Yeah. They don't understand conscious breathing. They don't understand what a good conscious breath does to your physiology. And then they don't understand what a proper thought does. They don't. They have, they have no reason to change thinking I hate you, too. I love you. Because they don't know the value in that. Yeah. So when they see that they can breathe better. And they see that they can think better than the body actually responds better. Yeah, so we change, you know, I teach my clients to control their body, their physiology on multiple levels, but first of all, the respiratory system. Yeah. How to take a breath. Yeah. Is that you know, yeah, and then learn and then that that breath will control your cardiac system. So now you're in control your respiratory and cardiac? Well, I think a good thought, now you're controlling your, your sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. So you're actually changing your hormonal system, and you're changing your nervous system, and you're changing your levels of tension. So if I can control my tension and my temper, yeah, I'm going to perform better every time. And if I can perform, and if I can, if I can control my temper intention, and have the intention to be happy while I'm doing my Yeah. Yeah, I'm gonna do better. Yeah. So what do you think then say, like, classic example of John McEnroe, who was infamous for his are famous for his like losing his temper? And obviously, he was successful to some degree is there? Are there times that you actually might coach a player to consciously lose their temper but more of a strategy? That's another great question. He seems success credibly sucks. But but there was a temper there. And I wonder, yeah, so having a temper tantrum is a heck of a lot better than bottling it up and not to good plan. So if you have no different skill set, if you don't have a plan in place, to start something else. Yeah. So I'm starting to get overcome with anger intention, yeah, I better let it out and a temper tantrum, if I have no other release, otherwise, it's just going to come out, it's going to implode compliant. So a temper tantrum is way better than nothing. Yeah. However, a temper tantrum is only going to get you so far. Because tension, you know, you can you can, you can perform pretty well. But there's a level to perform at your peak your best your best to best. It has to be like yoga, there has to be a complete flow into beyond that, you know, you have to go to the next level and start playing what I call the spiritual level, where I'm playing for the love of the game. I'm playing for the love of the moment. Yeah. So I'll tell you a story. Yeah, I learned this. I'm going to a naturopathic doctor out on Maui. And he's giving Barry and I are both going. And he's given me all these tests. They give a test muscle test, isn't that right? So after about two weeks of testing, he's like, you know, bro, you're lucky to live here on Maui. Because according to my test, you don't handle stress well. And I'm like, No, I don't. I got my back goes out. My neck goes out. I get cold sores. I've had sciatica I go, I do not handle stress. Well, yeah, it was well next time you come here, I want you to learn about this freeze frame or machine. Now this is 1999 HeartMath had just released its first heart rate variability devices like serial ports and stuff like that. So yes, I come the next time. And he hooks me up to this machine with my finger or whatever. And I light up in 100% sympathetic activity and he's showing me how that is getting a turns it off. And he says, Now I want you to I want you to do your meditation. My meditation is very cerebral. I'm thinking a lot but it changed. It changed quite a bit thing and then you turn it off again. He goes, Okay, now, I want you to sit here and I want you to do some heart centered breathing. I just want you to focus on your heart. I want you to take some nice, full breaths, and I want you to just think of something that makes you happy. So all I do is that and I open up my eyes. And now it's 100% Green, all these beautiful waves. Yes, I look at him and I'm like, Ah, I'm like, Okay, where's the make him a believer button? There's no way 15 minutes. You just taught me how to do this. No way. Yeah. And he goes, Yes, I did. Yeah. And that day really changed my understanding of conscious control of our own physiology. Yeah, to the point that I was like, Oh my God, you know, why doesn't everybody understand this? And that that led into, you know, that led into understanding all the powers of thought and all the stuff that goes along with that. Yeah. But you know, and I imagine, I mean, I did a matter of fact, I had done yoga for about two years, and Laird took me, so I felt like it was an hour long exercise class. Right. And you were just, it was an hour long push up class. So it was nothing to do with yoga. I'd hear the lady saying something about Brett. But there was no yoga. This is LAIRD HAMILTON. Yeah. Okay, gotcha. Oh, do you guys do all do our first yoga classes? Uh huh. Uh huh. And so, then then, but I hear, move with the breath, move with the breath. And I never did never got it. And then I bought my first HeartMath machine. Yep. And I'm taking my breath in, and the lines going up and up and up. And then I take my breath all the way out, and the lines coming down and down and down and down. And I take my next breath in, and it goes up and up and up. And I'm watching it go across the screen. I'm like, that's a yoga move. I go, if I was moving on the up breath, and I was moving on the down breath. That would be Yeah, yeah. Singing a sudden sigh you want. And then I did. And then it all came to me. Like I understood. Yeah, moving with the breath, men. And then I went to a yoga class. And the whole class, I was able to do it. The next class a little bit harder. But I just remember I was like, oh, that's what they meant. Yeah, you can't move the breath. Yeah, go to Child's Pose. But I never understood that because we were all just, that's a great point. Yeah. I remember the time that when you had your office in Jupiter, and I got a chance to go to your studio, and you let me Yeah, you got me on that. And that was a really amazing experience. Because like you said, like, you might think to yourself, Okay, I know that this breathing is supposed to be good for me. And so you're doing it while you're in there. But when when I could see that the heart really does change dramatically, very quickly, just soon as you slow it all down, or just take a little bit deeper breathing. So when I got the visual of that, a similar type of experience where I was like, Oh, well, that makes sense. Like now when I'm in the room, I'm this is actually working. This is actually doing what I thought it was. But when I could see it, it just proved it. I can't tell you how many yoga, yoga instructors or yoga practitioners I've had over the years, and I'll just do your own Jaya breath. I'm not going to coach you. I'm not going to imagine that you're a good breather already. Since you're a yogi. And they'll do their own Jaya breath. And they'll get into those beautiful waves No, see, their hearts are drew spawn, and they're just like, Oh, my God, I knew it did something. But I wasn't sure what. Yeah. And then they see their heart in real time. Responding to the skills, we're learning about focusing their mind, thinking a happy thought, breathing correctly. See it immediately. The other amazing thing, Todd is, you know, we will go work with teams. So Ali used to hook the girls up at the volleyball teams, and that's your daughter, your daughter? She's a pro volleyball player. Yeah, yeah. Pro volleyball player, coach. Yeah. And so I do big groups, and we'd hook to grow up and get her into the nice waves and get her into coherence. And I asked the girls, I said, Listen, um, why don't I want you to what I want you to do now is I want you to think about something that's bothering you. And I watched a girl go from basically sitting in front of a whole class of people, about 75 beats a minute. And she just changed her thinking she didn't move a muscle, and her heart rate went from 75 to 130. Sitting just in a chair, just thinking about something that was upsetting her. Yeah. And her heart rate went up. 50 beats a minute, I was sitting there, it went right off the screen. And I'm just like, yeah, it amazed me. Yeah. And of course, I never asked what people are thinking, but I'm like, Okay, now what we want to do is we want to replace that thought, because that thought is not whether it's exciting, or whether it's depressing, or whether it's anxious producing. It's not good for you. Yeah. No matter how you cut it. Yeah. So you got to be able to control that. Yeah. So what do we do? We replace it? I refocus. Yeah, change the breath. Think a different thought. And suddenly the whole and you just watching the computer and the whole physiology changes back down. Yeah. Interesting. Do you think that like could you put thoughts into two categories, ones that cause your heart to your nervous system to jack up and those that cause them to dropped down, are there? Variable? Is there variability in that? Like, is there a strategy for the replacement thought they're the replacement of the thought strategy? Is there is there like, can you? Can you share a little of that? Okay, so my mentor described it is the doctrine of replacement, you're gonna know you're going to know when you're going along in life. And the thought comes in, you know, so and so did this to me, or the thought the stress producing thought comes in, and you're like, Okay, here it is. Yeah. Right. So what we want to do is right, then HeartMath calls it the freeze frame technique. So I'm going to be like, Okay, I need to take a timeout. I'm thinking about, Jim, you know, and I need to take a timeout. So I'm, I'm gonna take a breath. Now, the first part of the technique is to take my focus away from Jim and back to myself. Yeah, I want peace instead of this. Okay. Yeah. So I bring my focus and attention, literally, what I'm, where my mind is focused, I bring it back to myself back to my heart. Now, my, my mind and my heart are connected, I'm back within my body. Okay, so I'm taking a timeout from the world. And this is the first step because I want to refocus my mind. Now, there's stress in my body. Yeah, I'm mad about this happening. So I need to breathe. So the second step is taking that nice breath. That's called a heart breath. And that removes the tension from the body. Now I can bring my tension level back down. And then the third thing I want to do is allow a new thought to come up about him. I'm sorry, he did that to me. It's all going to work out. Please forgive me for getting upset about this. Yeah, whatever. So there's a systematic way to First we, it's almost like denying the thought, Okay, I'm not gonna let that come. Yeah. And then replacing it, got it. But at the same time, I'm taking care of the physiology along the way that makes sense. versus just a random like, okay, change the thought change the thought, thinks something positive, what, because then you're still in that agitated state. So it makes sense that you would try to first do the breath, bring the attention on herself or on the heart, and then change the thought change the thought so heart heart focus, our breathing, hurt feeling or heart thinking we close. Nice. And, you know, when you said, Are there two categories of thoughts? Yeah. To keep it real simple. Yeah. Love and hate. I love you, I hate you. And you feel the difference, and most stuff will go into the category. So we have the seven deadly sins, you know, lust, anger, worry, fear, all the different ones that we have there. Over here, we have the fruit of the Spirit, we have love, kindness, peace, gentleness. And so they're all right there. And it's very simple lists. One is healthy yet. One is not. Great point. Do you ever come across a coaching situation where if I know I have a choice, like I guess there's comes a time where I need to acknowledge or, like, come into full appreciation that I can choose? Love, I can choose? Hey, and that is a conscious choice. Do you find sometimes you see people and or people that you're coaching and or maybe yourself or other people that just refuse to change, but still come to you saying I want help? I want to, I want help, I want help, but I refuse to change. So I had one. I had one golfer come in my office. And over his career, he went over $12 million dollars on tour, but he never won. Ever. And he said you know I like play. Yeah, I like playing angry. I'm like, well, interesting. Oh, give me no one, you know? Yeah. I did ask that question. Yeah. And so how often if you're watching a sport, does the does the guy in the bad mood win? Yeah. Do you ever see it? Not usually the person who wins usually seems pretty controlled and focused and maybe even smiling after he wins the pot or makes the birdie or whatever he's going for? Yeah, or? Yeah, yeah. And so that's interesting. You're happy you're always gonna see very seldom we see the guy having the temper tantrum when the tournament Yeah, it's always the guy who keeps calm the whole time. Yeah. And then, you know, people ask me, I was like, Well, how come? People you know, in the one hit wonders, how can somebody win one time and never come back? And I'm like, That's the easiest to explain a ball. You played four days without hitting a bad shot. Yeah. So if I were to start on Thursday, yeah. And go on all the way through to Sunday never hit a bad shot, or not one that was bad enough to get me in a bad mood. Yeah, I can suddenly I'm like, wow, that was amazing. Yeah. However, the next week, he hits one in the water on the fourth hole, and suddenly, boom, he can't control his temper. So he's the chances of him playing for perfect days again. Yeah, yeah. Good point. You know, if I pick a game, if I just think like pickleball. And if, and if we played pickleball, in a room where there's no wind, then the environment is relatively controlled. And I could blame myself, I guess, for making a mistake on a shot. When you take something like a sport, you've been able to surf in big waves in Hawaii, and the oceanic environment is not controlled at all right? That's something that's free flowing, moving, we can't control that. And you're in more of a state of flow, it seems to me, do you? Have you had a moment in surfing where? Or paddling or in the ocean where you? What kind of thoughts have you had in the past in relation to feeling like you were fighting against it or working against nature in the ocean versus when you get into a flow state that then you could change your mind? I mean, because one thing I find about the ocean is so amazing, is that because of the constant change and the constant flux, I feel like I have to almost surrender a little more. And when I'm like in a controlled environment where I can I hit the ball, and I can't really blame anyone but but myself for making the mistake. But in the ocean, I feel like I didn't even know that was coming. I just tried the best I could and it threw me off or it dumped me. All right. I don't know. I mean, with surfing, I've always I love it for that, that I'm at the mercy of this powerful energy. And I just hope that maybe I'll be lucky enough to make it you know? Yeah. What, what sort of what kind of experiences have you had in relation to your oceanic adventures? Oh, my God. I mean, I can't even begin to put them all down. But I have to say getting to go surfing with true ocean masters. You know, spending time in the water with Kelly Slater with LAIRD HAMILTON with Dave Climber with Robbie Nash with these real heroes of the water. What they all have in common. None of them are ever in a hurry. Ever. And when you learn a sport, are already have this. I gotta get out there and catch one. Yeah. And it's almost like, the harder you try, the worse you do. And I think you must find that in yoga practice also, absolutely harder. People try. Stop trying so hard. It'll be a lot easier, you know? Yeah, good point. And suddenly, if you start trying a little bit easier, it's gonna go a little further. And so we, you know, being with them and watching them but there were many times where I was trying too hard. And you know, you pay the price. I mean, I went over the falls of Jaws, I went, I paid some heavy prices out there was this when there were floatation devices. I'm thinking when you were in Maui surfing Jaws, this is pre flotation or I had flotation athletes actually, when I usually I usually put two on. But yeah, those guys didn't. But I was out there. We were out there from that whole non flotation through flotation. Yeah, people don't understand flotation, because it's not first of all, you're not swimming down into these waves anyway. Yeah. You know, so yeah, you're not, it's not like having no flotation is going to help you much over flotation because when that thing takes you, I don't care what you have on is sending you to the bottom. Yeah. And so but nowadays, they have these floatation vests that actually you pull up, you pull of ripcord and you turn it into a beach ball. Yeah, shooting up to the surf. Gotcha. That's made the sport tremendously. more doable. Yeah. Yeah. Were you Were you being towed in or paddling or both jaws always towed? I ever paddled? Yeah, we went out when? Just before I left Maui, Laird was starting to stand up paddle out there. So we went out on some sessions and watched him stand up paddle. Yeah, I saw a few sessions of people lie down paddling. Yeah, and now over the years, it's become more paddlers and tow teams out there. Gotcha. Like, it's huge. Yeah. When you watch what's going on in Portugal and Nazare What do you think crazy or would you go out? I go to watch the veto. Yeah, that's pretty amazing that that um, did you watch that? 100 Did you know Barry was like you got to watch it. And I was like, Oh, it's on my queue. It's on my queue. And I finally did it. I was like, You You're right there that thing is that shows you what happened to her last week. No. She was she had to move her mother from from assisted living facility in California, New Jersey. She's coming back to Florida and New Jersey and she walks by there's GARRETT MCNAMARA in the airport. No, Garrett. Oh, no way they chatted and he's nice. Yeah, we loved it. That's cool. If he or she recognizes why we'd met him a couple of times at trade shows and things. Yeah, yeah. That's cool. That's cool. You mentioned that there was some synchronicity with the amount of time that you've been practicing the harmony exercise on a daily basis and the coordination of you starting on December in December as the Minister of unity of Jupiter, can you explain a little bit about that? So night, I was 23 years old in 1985. When I met that man, Carl writer, I became I learned a meditation, which I had been doing my whole life, a 12 minute meditation. And Barry was the first girl who learned it with me. And I married her I even knew in my head, I was going to marry the first girl that learns this. And so she and I have had this as our foundation of our marriage, and we'll be married 29 years. On November 26. Next to this, congratulations. Yeah, that's a solid 29 years. Yeah. And I love her more than today. I met her. And so but we always had this, this meditation together. So I always knew a family that prays together stays together. So no matter what, we spend about 10 minutes, 12 minutes a day, only one of us talking. Because only one person talks when you do the harmony. So it for 10 minutes, no one's arguing in our house, right? And so only one person is talking. I used to laugh. Can you explain that? I mean, one person is talking, leading the other person through the exercise. So it's not is it possible to do the harmony exercise without being in the company of someone else? Sure. Yeah. You just would do it through you learn that you learn the meditation and split in the one that you guys do. So that's how you decided to do it? Or is that part of the instruction as well? Carol? Carol taught it to me in this exact format. I you know, he invited us to his house. Yeah, we all sat down. It's called the harmony exercise. He led it. Yeah. And it starts with physical relaxation. So the first exercise is just relaxing the body. So I'd say okay, take a breath and relax the forehead, and the upper back of the head, relax the face, and we'd relax the whole body down to the bottom. So easy to lead that. And then the next one is relaxing the mind. But so for 12 minutes, I'm talking, yeah, every 12 minutes, you and I are thinking the exact same thoughts for this 12 minute pan period. And then we'll go back to our daily life, but nothing ever built up. Right. So. And then when our children came, they'd sit there and we'd all the four of us would do it together. Yeah. So every morning, we'd start out and the four of us would have this little prayer. Yeah. And then we moved to Florida, and life happened. And then. And then like I told you around 2015, I was just like, you know, this is my calling. And to backtrack a little bit in 1987. I got my master's degree in psychology from Pepperdine University. And when I was graduating, they asked during graduation, they said, What is your impossible dream? And I said, my impossible dream would be to be a minister. Wow. And now 40 years later, yeah, here I am becoming a minister. And, you know, by the most unlikely turn of events, we don't know how the world's gonna, yeah, good. work it all out. Good point. You had have and so at some point you got really focused on I'm going to do this exercise every single day without missing a single day, because you made mention of holding that sort of concentration for the past seven years now. So I was a little frustrated in December 2016, or even in November. And my friend coach Dan said, listen, John, if you want to really prove this to yourself, you need to do it every day. And what I'm gonna do is on December 1, I'll call you and we'll do it on the phone while we do the speakerphone. Yeah, yeah. So December 1, we turned on the speakerphone. And he was in his house, I was in mind and I led let him in the harmony. The next day he did we did it again. The next day, he had a friend over and I let them and then we did it and then we meet up and we do it. So for that first month, we did it and then at the end of December 2016. I learned about Facebook Live. Yeah. And he and we thought Do you think I can do it for a whole year? Live on Facebook? So 12 Minute Meditation live on Facebook, different locations? Yeah. And I did it 965 days barrel join me and yeah, and we did it and it was I mean, you know, there were coughs in Dog barking and horns going off. It wasn't the cleanest product, but it got us going. Got her dream job. It got me to understand the value of daily practice more than anything I ever could have imagined. And our whole everything changed that in 2017 are in touch. And our life was already great, but it went to unbelievable. I went from 260 to 215 pounds without ever going on a diet without ever starting an exercise program. Alcohol just left my life. I never quit drinking, but I don't drink alcohol. Yeah, I never quit. Yeah, people like when you drink and I'm like I didn't I swear to God, I never quit. My level of health got more important than my level of alcohol. Yeah, it's all there was to it. Yeah. And all these things happened, man, and then they're not awesome. Then in Valentine's Day 2018 Barry and I renewed our vows at unity in the labyrinth. And what's the labyrinth that's just a room there, or it's this beautiful walking meditation that we built there? Nice. That's a whole nother incredible sets here in Jupiter. Yeah, right. Right. Right. It's right behind Walmart. It's on? Yeah, Bush road. Gotcha. Gotcha is a beautiful labyrinth. You know, just state of the art labyrinth. You should go walk it went down. Yeah. And yeah. And we renewed our vows. And then and then that year was that happy? February 14 2018 was the first day of Lent. And Lent is like some Catholic thing for 40 days. Yeah. And we're neither of us are Catholic. Okay. But it's always fun to do something. You know, she goes, Why don't we give up wine for Lent? Yeah, I was like, All right. So how hard alcohol left me and then give up wine for Lent. And at the end of Lent, she's like, I'm gonna get some wine. I'm like, wow, why? You know, and I've never been I've never touched it since so I'm nice. Six years. alcohol free. Seven years daily meditating. Yeah, yeah. And then seven years to the day will be December 1 2023. Oh, wow. And that'll be the day my contract with unity of Jupiter starts interesting. We're just talking about divine synchronicities, you know, and how the universe Yeah, lines things up that you could never imagine. And I'm sure you I know the you Dhamra have had the same experience 1000 times. You know, I'm nothing special. You just have to I hear ya. I hear Yeah. What advice would you give somebody that's embarking on a mission like you took to say, I'm going to do this for one year, no matter what, no matter if it's raining, sunny, cold, I'm tired. I'm hungry. I'm traveling. The kids I didn't expect to how to pick them up. I was gonna do it this time that you know what I mean? Like the million and one excuses that come in, did what book you one or two or three tips of advice would you give somebody that's thinking about taking on like a one year challenge of doing the same thing every day. There has to be a passion, there has to be, it's not something that you're being told you could do from some outside person. Like you can tell them you have to do yoga for a year. And oh, I'm gonna do it because Todd told me to where I'm gonna do the harmony exercise. Good. John told me to fail, fail, fail. But when it comes from the inside, from that guy, or whatever, the Japanese call it that inner purpose, then you will find it and you'll do it. You won't matter. It's like delivering the mail. I don't care. I'm delivering the mail, you know, and it's that kind of inner drive. Like, nothing could stop me. People say, why don't you take a few days off? I'm like, Are you out of your mind? Do you see where I was where I am? And why would I ever even? You know? Yeah, good point. I can't imagine. Yeah. And now, you know, those first three years. I, the first year was Facebook Live. So I recorded it every day. Second year, I recorded it everyday third year, I recorded it. Fourth year, I recorded it. And then fifth year, I was like, you know, I have such nice ones. Now. If it's raining, I'm not going to go kill myself to make a new one. today. I'll go do the harmony. Yeah. Which is actually which is actually in a way been even a deeper experience. Because now I've gotten back a little bit to doing it more for myself on those days. Yeah. And so I can deviate a little bit like yeah, this morning. It was like 100 mile an hour winds. That was wild. So when I'm praying I'm like, Okay, well, and I get the podcast is gonna go perfect today. You know, and I put that in right? out loud because I'm not. Yeah 40 It wasn't amazing that when I got up this morning to walk the dog where I didn't even hear any thing all night long. I opened the front door it's dark out and I was like wait a minute, this wind this is not a 20 mile an hour this is not even a 30 mile an hour. This is this is even like a 40 or 50 mile an hour wind it was howling it was screaming all the trash in our neighborhood just the everyone's can flipped over every cycle Ben there's trash littered everywhere. trees had been blown down and I'm like, there was no like no one was there. Usually every time there's like the potential for even like a little bit of rain. You're getting alerts on your phone saying flash flood warning or, you know, tornado warning hurricanes that didn't give us what they gave us. I know that was so crazy. But yeah, we've had hurricanes didn't even knock over our chairs. We woke up this morning, all the chairs were in the pool, and everything was everywhere. I was like, oh my Yeah, yeah, it had an incredible energy to it. Like I love the wind. I know some people will say when the weather's like that, that feel a little anxious and anxious. But something about the wind. I just love it. When Yeah. And that's another thing people, you know, they go through life saying things make them feel a certain way which which they do. However, if you have no way to change the way you feel, then yes, everything is going to make you feel a certain way. But I want to feel a certain way. I want to feel peaceful. I want to feel I don't want to feel anxious. I hate that feeling of anxiety. Can't breathe. And if you're not feeling and you're just like you can't you don't understand what's going on. Yes, I can't take that. So I hear Yeah, we want to be practicing. So that doesn't happen to plant good plant. If somebody would like to do the harmony exercise with your watch one of your videos, the best website to go to for that is the harmony. One the harmony, the harmony exercise.com. The harmony exercise.com Has my online course called The Elements and that's on, that's for free. And you can go through a nine, nine or 10 videos that breaks down each and every aspect of the harmony. If you go on my YouTube, the harmony exercise YouTube page, there's many free harmonies. If you want my daily harmony, the one I made yesterday for today, then that's a subscription. But there's lot I have over there's over 1000 Free harmony exercises on the internet right now. The Harmony exercise Facebook page has about 400 of them. Harmony exercise YouTube page has about 200 of them. So there's many free ones. But my daily journey one like the current one, yeah, there's a small charge for it. But you can always find a free one so you never have nice, you know, that's cool, John, I appreciate that. I'll have all those links in the description so people can just like click and find super easy they don't have to search. Yeah. Yeah, man. Well, you know, I'm so happy to have this opportunity to hear about I've had a chance to meet you over the years and talk with you over the years but I was really looking forward to this as well today. I when I woke up I told Tim I was sayin I got John coming into the studio I've been thinking about inviting you on for so long so I'm so happy we finally got this to work to thank you so much for coming in as divine timing you know? Yeah, it was it's perfect now that I that you know that contract happened Wednesday night so now that's I can say that when nice Yeah, well confidence now what is your when you visualize the your future in this role? What do you hope to achieve I hope to achieve changing individuals one at a time that become you know, basically light bearers basically people who want to live this life in a happy, harmonious way and help other people do so. And really just make themselves better. You know, the reason why I do this stuff is really to make myself better if I can do that to a point where it helps others that's great. Yes. And so that's my main view you know, I think we're living in a world right now which is it's it's tough and devices don't make it any easier. Because they keep us in the past Yeah, every time we pick up telephone we're gonna we're going into the past you know, yeah, yes out of this present moment. So I think it's an important thing and like like your mission yours and tamaraws mission and keeping people healthy, physically healthfully. Healthy, mentally, healthy, spiritually healthy emotionally is the most important thing we can do right now. I agree. And I agree. I'm 61. So that was more time I have right now. Do you find that that's what happens the older we get that you feel a little more immediate, see a little less Some that I have the rest of the forever to do these and achieve my goals like, are you waking up with a little more passion to try to niche in on really getting down to the nitty gritty of what we're here for? I definitely, you know, in the last in the last few years, I've come to realize I want to leave some sort of worthwhile legacy. You know, it makes me feel great. When I go down to the keys, and Luke Luke has become one of the best masked wake skaters on the planet. Luke is just for the crap for you guys listening. And Luke is just amazing what he does. Yeah. The best guys. So he has these friends who were the best week skaters in the world. Well, one of the guys had PTSD. Like he'd had a really bad fall. So Luke's like, Dad, you got to work with this guy. So I give him all the Heart Math. And I teach him and I make them understand how the story is creating the anxiety. And we have we go through all this time. Well, guess where he is now? When the whole world championship again this year. Nice. So nice. And but to have my kids recommend me to their friends. Yeah, yeah. That's the best. Yeah, then I know I'm making a difference. Yeah, that's a great point. That's a good point. Huge. That's awesome. Man. You have an incredible family. You do? Yeah. Pretty. We're not by chance. So not by chance. Good point. Well, when you made mention that, you know, the four of you would wake up and or at some point in the day, no, oh, no. More was in the morning, we hold hands. So that this one like this. So we had an altar in our room where we'd sit down next to the altar, we do the harmony, and the kids would either be playing on the bed or on the floor. And then afterwards, we say Come hold hands. So the four of us would go hold hands. Yeah, now we'd have our prayer request. So we go around the floor. And each of us say, Oh, I pray for my friend, so and so or I pray I have a good day today. And then at the end, we'd all have to look at each other. So I'd have to look at Barry and say I love you. And I'd have to look at Ali, I love you. And Luke, I love you. And they'd all do it. And then we break and we go on about our day. Yeah, we did it for years. Right. And looking back. And I believe that foundation is key to the whole thing. And yeah, boo, and then we'd have like little family pile on hug. You know, jumping. It was we were looking back, you know, it didn't seem that important, then yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, I don't know how much of that's going on these days, to be honest. How often do you let meet other people or families that are that are doing that type of? It's rare? Yeah. So that's, that's amazing. That's, that's incredible. Right? I mean, that'd be a great course to come up with for you. I mean, not you're already doing that with your course. But, you know, to some sort of like family training course. I like that, you know, one of the challenges with children is like just getting them involved in and where they are. I mean, it's not that hard. Because if they see you happy, they want to jump in and get involved in the fun. But sometimes, you know, if I, if I, I've always tried to not pressure my children to come to yoga, because I remember when I got pressured to go to church as a kid, it almost repelled me from church. And so I've really tried to take this approach of like, if you guys want to come you can, but there's no pressure in and just let them flow in or out. But I like what you were mentioning in terms of like, just inviting them in or like you guys would do the exercise first. And it wasn't this forced, like you're doing this right now. Whether you like it or not like you know it because it seems like it could have that opposite effect. And it became a real special thing. I always told Barry, you know, even when we moved here, we did it now Holly and Luke, they were 1011 12 getting older. So it's hard. But so you tell them, hey, you know, come down breakfast ready? Hold on, hold on. When you said Come hold hands. Yeah. It was like it was they just came and did and it was never resist never there was just they knew that was a special time. They knew it in their hearts. Now we'd say and you know, we never never had a parent teacher conference ever for disciplinary reasons. Not one. All the years. Yeah. Yeah. But when we were leaving the house, we say make everyone's day better. It's only piece of advice we give. Make everyone's day better. And if they go out with that one piece of advice, chances are, they do okay. That's a really good one. I heard this yesterday, I think on the exact same note that someone said, instead of thinking what is the world Omi today? What can I offer? What do I have to offer to the world today? Like what instead of this like what am I going to get? Right? What am I going to get today? You know, so that's a big one flipping that on its head. That's one of the best things I have to offer. When we seek ourselves we get the world when we see the world we get nothing. Yeah, yeah, good point. But that's amazing, John, well, this has been a great opportunity. I feel like you've shared a lot of wisdom and advice and great stories I, I don't know, if you have a parting or closing offering to the listener? Well, you know, the only really a parting thing is just to keep working on yourself. Keep finding a way to be calm and happy on a daily basis and try different things, try different meditations, try different yoga is try something and find that thing that lights your fire. And, and then if you'd like to join us at Unity of Jupiter, we have a really all my talks from last year on YouTube there. So you can go to unity of Jupiter and YouTube. And then all the ones coming up will be on YouTube. And we're only going to make those better and better. So to get to be pretty good watching. That's awesome, John, you know, just to give you a little bit of kudos, I remember when you first started doing your Harmony exercises on Facebook Live, I was very nervous, shy about doing anything on the internet, and especially doing something live and I remember my thoughts when I saw you doing I was like, wow, John's really utilizing this technology. And, you know, that's so cool. I feel so nervous doing that. But I feel like you pioneered it a little bit in terms of I mean, obviously other people develop the technology for you to use or for us to use. But I, for me, it's getting easier to do things like this where I'm putting myself out there, but I got inspired by you just doing that and just being willing to not have to be perfect. I remember one time you did when we're I think you were paddleboarding or kayaking, and you brought your phone out there with you somehow had cell service and, you know, you're paddling, the winds blown. There's whitecaps and you're like doing the harm exercise. And I was like, Dude, this is so classic I love it was a little rough. But it was it was commitment. Yeah. And you become really good at it now. And I think as you know, both of us have matured a lot in the last 10 years, and suddenly become a lot more confident in what we do and what we're teaching and it's needed out there. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Whenever I hear Yeah. Well, thank you, John. Oh, it's great to see you. Let's do this again someday. And we'll go into more Nick. Thank you, Todd. Thank you. Native yoga Todd cast is produced by myself. The theme music is dreamed up by Bryce Allen. If you liked this show, let me know. If there's room for improvement. I want to hear that too. 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