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Jay Shetty PodcastJay Shetty Podcast

Fitness Coach Nimai Delgado ON: How Failure Is A Part Of Success

Are you unsure about your career path? Are you trying to build financial stability? This conversation with fitness coach Nimai Delgado offers fresh insights and valuable life lessons.

Nimai DelgadoguestJay Shettyhost
Jun 26, 20231h 3mWatch on YouTube

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Transcript

  1. 0:00 – 2:28

    Intro

    1. ND

      Having compassion towards yourself whenever you're learning something is a skill. Yes, you may be not where you want to be. That's okay The bestselling author and host-

    2. JS

      The number one health and wellness podcast

    3. ND

      On Purpose with Jay Shetty.

    4. JS

      Hey, everyone. Welcome back to On Purpose, the number one health podcast in the world, thanks to each and every one of you that come back every week to become happier, healthier, and more healed. And that's my goal here. My goal is to introduce you to people who can help us become happier, help us become healthier, and help us become more healed in our lives. That's what I'm committed to, and I'm grateful that you're here listening and committed to that same mission. Today's guest is gonna help us do just that. I'm talking about a dear friend of mine who I've been getting to know over the last few years. We've known each other in different incarnations, which I'll explain as the podcast goes through. But for those of you who don't know him, Nimai Delgado was raised as a vegetarian by virtue of his spiritual beliefs and has actually never eaten meat in his life. Nimai became the world's first vegan IFBB professional bodybuilder, proving that you don't need animal products to be an elite athlete. Nimai is a motivational speaker and shares his story all over the world to bring awareness to the many benefits of a plant-based lifestyle and the importance of exercising our bodies and our compassion. Nimai has also founded Veg Nutrition, an all-natural supplement company, and veganfitness.com, where he has coached thousands of clients, along with a handful of phenomenal celebrities and athletes doing their best while being plant-based. Please welcome to the show Nimai Delgado. Nimai, it's great to have you here, man.

    5. ND

      Jay, I am so excited to be here. Thank you so much for having me, bro.

    6. JS

      No, it's, it's great to finally have you here. We've talked about this for a while.

    7. ND

      Yeah, it's been a long time coming.

    8. JS

      It's been a long time coming, and I'm glad you're coming on now. And I love how we talk about people exercising their bodies and exercising their compassion. I, I think that idea is really beautiful. And I can honestly say that you're one of the toughest, strongest guys I know. But at the same time, you're also one of the sweetest, kindest guys I know, and I think that combination is really powerful. But I, I wanna talk about your journey today. I wanna talk about some of your insights today. You know, we have a big community here who wants to be healthier, who wants to be happier. Uh, let's start with right now. Like, what

  2. 2:28 – 3:19

    What is making you happy today?

    1. JS

      makes you feel happy and healthy right now, today?

    2. ND

      That's such a good question. Yeah, I think first of all, it, it just begins with waking up feeling like I have purpose. Definitely waking up, tending to myself first and foremost, my morning routine, my water, my meditation practices, all of these things that have, I've slowly built the practice of over the course of 10, 15 years that have now been so ingrained into the fabric of who I am, and that is what really keeps me feeling good and showing up for whatever the day has to throw at me. So, I mean, once you find that, then it really does allow you to, like, live in that, that healthy space to where you can show up and handle anything really.

    3. JS

      Yeah, and I've seen you share some of those on Instagram and on social media. Could you walk us

  3. 3:19 – 6:20

    The benefits of waking up early

    1. JS

      through, like, what have become those key principles of your morning routine or evening routine that you turn to, and, and which are the ones that you've developed?

    2. ND

      Mm-hmm. Yeah, so first of all, so what time I wake up. Uh, I'm sure you've had plenty of guests on the show that talk about the benefits of waking up early. I try to wake up at the same time every morning. So for me, that's anywhere like around 6:00. And-

    3. JS

      Same as me, yeah

    4. ND

      ... yeah, I don't, I don't have a alarm clock. I just naturally wake up at that time. My body's just like, "All right, ready to go." And then I just drink my cup of water, and I will find a quiet space. I have a little meditation station in my house with my red light, and I'll just sit and just breathe, and it's not perfect every morning. This is what I don't want to preach or come on here and talk about, is perfection. I really am not a perfect person, and I want to really first and foremost make that clear because it's not perfect, but the days that I do show up, I show up to the degree that I can. So sometimes that's 20 minutes, sometimes that's longer. Sometimes it's even five. And for me, that tone of, of really setting the tone for the rest of my day with intention, with that peace of just tapping into whatever my body needs that morning and then letting that dictate how I-

    5. JS

      Mm

    6. ND

      ... operate for the rest of the day.

    7. JS

      Mm, that's beautiful. And what are the benefits of red light, for those who don't know, because you said you meditate there with the red light. What, what's that for?

    8. ND

      Yeah, so there's, there's plenty of benefits behind red light. I'm not an expert in it, but I believe it was developed by NASA. They have, like, over 500 different scientific studies that show some of the benefits. I believe it's, the main benefit is with ATP production, so it's the energy produced by your cells. So it helps you rejuvenate cells and, um, get rid of old, damaged cells and replace them with new cells. So for somebody who wants to recover from athletic training, it's a great way to start your day. It also helps with skin if, if somebody has some skin issues there too, so... And it's also just nice to, it provides a little bit of heat, too. So-

    9. JS

      Yeah

    10. ND

      ... it can just, like, provide that nice ambient lighting in the morning when it's still dark outside to just start your day with a little bit less of this, like, bright white light.

    11. JS

      Yeah, yeah.

    12. ND

      Yeah.

    13. JS

      Wow. Yeah, that's cool. I, I, yeah, I've, I've used it for, I used it recently after I had surgery, and so-

    14. ND

      Oh, nice

    15. JS

      ... yeah, yeah, yeah.

    16. ND

      Yeah.

    17. JS

      That, that's, I was recommended to use it. I was intrigued why someone would use it when they'd not had surgery, but that's, that's good to know. Uh, I love that, and I love what you're saying about not being perfect, right? I think people often think that when someone comes on a podcast or they talk about something that they've nailed it and their life works like clockwork and they wake up at the same time every day and they meditate for the same amount of time and, and that's amazing if it, if that's true for you, and it happens, but, but it rarely does. I wanted to go backwards into your life. Today, obviously, you've, you know, famously known for being in the documentary Game Changers, and that was exec produced by James Cameron, uh, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jackie Chan, Lewis Hamilton, and, you know, people that you know well as well. And that's incredible to see how far plant-based lifestyle, vegan lifestyle, athletic ability has come- I guess my question

  4. 6:20 – 10:44

    What is life like when you’ve never eaten meat?

    1. JS

      is, do you feel that you, at this stage before we go back, kind of what do you feel you proved to yourself? Like when I, when I read things like you've never eaten meat and that, you know, you don't need animal products to be an elite athlete, is that something you set out to do? Is that something that was important to you, or is that something that kind of has just happened in society as something that interests people?

    2. ND

      So for me personally, it was never something that I had set out to do. I had honestly had been ashamed of being plant-based. So I was, like you mentioned earlier in the podcast, I was raised vegetarian by virtue of my parents' spiritual beliefs of which I was raised with as well. And one of those beliefs is ahimsa, which I'm sure you're very familiar with, which is just trying to live a life and not contribute to any unnecessary harm or suffering and try to lead with compassion. So by virtue of trying to follow that, it leads me to make the choice to not consume animal products. And when I was raised vegetarian, I grew up in Mississippi, and there weren't too many vegetarians in Mississippi, and I would constantly get questioned and, and asked about my spiritual beliefs whenever I was younger. And I didn't have the vernacular or the language to really explain myself, so I tended to become more withdrawn or just a little bit more avoidant whenever people would ask me that question. And it really wasn't until my later years when I was t- mid-20s when I leaned into that part of myself and started to really embrace and own my belief and being proud of that belief. And that's what ultimately led me to finding my purpose because people started to ask me once I, they, I started winning bodybuilding competitions, they started to ask me, "How do, how are you doing this?" And the question that I once avoided so much about why I was vegetarian now became this really interesting topic for people that wanted to learn more from it. So I started sharing more online and then just naturally fell into this place where I was teaching people, which was really exciting for me.

    3. JS

      Yeah. I think so many of us as kids have beliefs or values that we follow because of our parents, and then we feel embarrassed about them when we're questioned because they're not our beliefs and values at the time. Like you said, we don't know how to explain why we do this or why we don't do this. Often on those occasions, sometimes as we grow older, we leave those values.

    4. ND

      Mm-hmm.

    5. JS

      We go the other way. I know so many people that grew up with certain values, especially when they're spiritual based, that kids end up going the other way where they're like, "Well, I don't want anything to do with that because it doesn't even make any sense," because their parents never explained to them why you do that or it's important, so they don't know why. What do you think stopped you from, like, going the other way and, and just, like, being like, "Well, no- no one in Mississippi gets it, so why am I bothering to do this?"

    6. ND

      As a child, it's really easy to understand the concept of not wanting to harm an animal. Uh, this is why, you know, most people will take their children to petting zoos and not slaughterhouses because [laughs] kids naturally have an affinity to animals and want to learn from them and care for them or be around them. And I think that just really stuck with me because I grew up on a cow farm, and I had such close proximity to animals, and I had such a deep connection with them. And I think fundamentally I understood that in order for meat to end up on my plate, an animal would have to suffer or, or be killed, and I just didn't want to contribute with that. I just never felt aligned in my body, and I was doing just fine without it. So I continuously heard people tell me that if, you know, I need meat to be big and strong, I need meat to grow up, for protein, for all the other nutrients, and here I was, you know, fairly athletic even as a kid just living this experience, and I just knew in my heart that I didn't need it. So I just continued to go by feeling a- and really just stop caring what other people told me I needed and just, like, really started tuning into what I felt like was right for me.

    7. JS

      I feel like there's a lot of people who want to be plant-based or vegan, but then they go back to eating meat because they're told they're lacking something or they need something, and often people feel it themselves. Like they feel better when they're eating meat in terms of their body even if they don't agree with it morally. I've, I've met a lot of people like that.

    8. ND

      Mm-hmm.

    9. JS

      Uh, and I guess my point is y- and i- and that's what I'm hearing from you is everyone's so unique and so different.

  5. 10:44 – 14:21

    How do you source protein needs without animal protein?

    1. JS

      What nutrients did you have to be more proactive to find as someone who's vegan and be more thoughtful about? Uh, let's start there first.

    2. ND

      Yeah. So I mean, the, the first topic that most people tend to, uh, bring up is protein. Protein is an important nutrient that has many purposes in the body, including recovery, including many, um, just for overall health and, and vitality, you need protein. I'm not denying that. But I think that there's a lack of education when it comes to the amount of protein that plants provide. So I, growing up, never really concerned myself with an amount of protein. I just ate what my parents would provide me with, and that was like lentils, um, you know, pastas, it, things that naturally contain protein, but it doesn't have animal protein. So that is the biggest kind of conversation that I normally have on a daily basis is, "Where do you get your protein from?"

    3. JS

      Mm-hmm.

    4. ND

      And I think it's important to realize for people understanding how much protein you actually need, and everybody's different like you said. I'm not here to tell anybody how-

    5. JS

      Yeah

    6. ND

      ... to live their life. That's not-

    7. JS

      Same as me. Yeah

    8. ND

      ... that's not my intention whatsoever. I'm here to just talk about my experience and, and have the conversation with people who are genuinely interested in learning about this lifestyle and possibly feeling, uh, even more vitality, which is what I experienced whenever I went fully plant-based. So protein, uh, the other big one is B12. So B12 is a micronutrient that, um, you know, we don't naturally get in our diet based off the sterile nature of the way that we grow our crops. We used to get it from soil and streams of water. So now, um, most B12 is supplemented and even given to animals, so people that consume animal products are getting supplemented B12 that are fed to the animals, so you're getting, getting it, uh, secondhand. So it's not just a vegan issue at this point in time, it's a general population issue that people, I believe up to 40% of the population has suboptimal levels of B12, so supplementing with that is a wise choice just to kind of ensure that.

    9. JS

      Mm-hmm.

    10. ND

      And then the other one's iron. I mean, that's another big one for anybody that has, uh, potentially anemia or anything like that. Uh, but there are plenty of vegetables that provide more than enough iron. It's just about really understanding how to eat and consume a diverse amount of vegetables in your diet that will cover these nutritional gaps, and it all boils down to education first and foremost.

    11. JS

      Yeah. No, and, and I agree with you that, you know, for me as well, I don't... Definitely not a proponent or an evangelist of a certain type of lifestyle and, you know, I think everyone has to make their own decisions. I know that I went from being vegetarian to being plant-based overnight, which I think I would have done differently had I had known what I know now. I think I would have done, done things more gradually and been more aware of things like B12 and Omega-3s and these kind of things that, and iron and so many other things. I, I still would have made the decision to become pla- uh, plant-based. I feel far more energetic today. I feel far more, uh, immue- my immunity is far stronger today. Like I feel much better being plant-based, without a doubt. I just wish I made my journey [laughs] towards it a lot easier, and so I'm very mindful now where it was like I went from li- literally being vegetarian to plant-based like literally overnight.

    12. ND

      Yeah. Yeah, so did I.

    13. JS

      Yeah, yeah.

    14. ND

      I did too.

    15. JS

      Exactly, and, and I think there were a few things that I could have avoided if, if I didn't do that.

    16. ND

      Uh-huh.

    17. JS

      So but with, with your journey, so you grew up in Mississippi in a spiritual home. You're, you're already vegetarian, and I guess

  6. 14:21 – 19:59

    Living in a spiritual community and your upbringing

    1. JS

      what, when you're brought up in a spiritual environment, and I don't meet many people, I don't think we've interviewed many people who grew up directly in a spiritual environment. A, what does that mean, and B, like how did that affect your values and goals and ambitions in life? Like how did that-

    2. ND

      Yeah, so I, it definitely gave me perspective because the environment that I grew up in, it was a, it was a faith-based community. Um, the, the difference was that the f- the, the spiritual belief was very different than the surrounding spiritual beliefs because we were a Hare Krishna community, which, uh, is a division of Hinduism. So my parents actually converted from Catholicism to Hinduism in Argentina, and they are deeply spiritual people. They decided that they wanted to devout- devote them, their lives to their spiritual practice. So they renounced all their possessions, and they decided to go live in the temple. I mean, you have had a s-

    3. JS

      Yeah, yeah

    4. ND

      ... you know that experience.

    5. JS

      Yeah.

    6. ND

      And they had my brother, they had my sister, and they bounced around South America and then eventually was told about an opportunity to come live in a spiritual community in South Mississippi. And so they immigrated to the United States with basically $200 in their pockets and two and a half kids, pregnant with me, and that's where I was born and raised, and it was really quite unique because it was a community. Like I remember calling all of the mothers in the community Mother, because we would go to the temple. We would go around the farm. We had cows. We had our own garden. Everybody had a role in the community, and it was really beautiful-

    7. JS

      That's really special

    8. ND

      ... now that I, now that I look back at it. Before, uh, aft- well, when I was younger and I started to integrate into the more, uh, traditional Southern culture 'cause I went to public school, that brought about a lot of challenges for me because it was like I was living in this bubble and then go, venturing out into the other world.

    9. JS

      Was that for high school?

    10. ND

      It was from all the way from kindergarten-

    11. JS

      And-

    12. ND

      ... to, to high school.

    13. JS

      So you're saying going from home to then going to-

    14. ND

      Yes

    15. JS

      ... kindergarten and high school.

    16. ND

      Yeah.

    17. JS

      So you went to a, a public-

    18. ND

      Public school

    19. JS

      ... public school.

    20. ND

      Yeah.

    21. JS

      But you was... Yeah, right.

    22. ND

      Yeah, yeah. So that brought about its own challenges because like I said, uh, I was just very different from my peers, and it made me appreciate other people and their differences because I would get questioned so much about my spiritual beliefs, my practices, my family, my home life, and also hear, um, much of the judgments that came along with being so different. And, uh, you know, I, I appear, uh, the way I do, so I don't look-

    23. JS

      Yeah

    24. ND

      ... like s- like a, like a Hindu person, you know? Like most people associate Hinduism with being from India, and much of the culture that I grew up in, in that community were Indian. So I kind of felt like an outcast within the community-

    25. JS

      Wow

    26. ND

      ... and then felt like an outcast outside of that community as well. So it was very difficult for me to find my own identity, so I got very good at observing other people and, and really just having compassion for different forms of life without judging because I knew what it was like to be judged growing up.

    27. JS

      Yeah. Wow, yeah. And that's, that's hard, right? Like when you grow up without feeling like home's not home, and then away from home doesn't feel like home. And cr- but it sounds like you were able to process it in a healthy way, right? Like the ability to learn not to judge, the ability to be okay with people having differences, the ability to understand that everyone was unique and everyone was, you know, on their own path or whatever it may be. Like that sounds like a really healthy mindset. The second part of my question was like how did that impact your ambitions and goals and what you wanted to do or be? Because you're getting exposed to these two very different worlds. Like you have the public school academic world, and then you have this private life of spirituality. Like how did that impact what you wanted to do with your life?

    28. ND

      Yeah, yeah. So we, so we moved out of that community when I was about nine years old, and, you know, we were immigrants. My parents didn't speak any English whenever they arrived to the United States, so they had to find their way in this world and pay for their kids. And, uh, we were very spiritually rich but materialistically very poor. So money was always a topic of conversation and always a source of anxiety for, for my family. So- For me, that really gave birth to the, uh, to the desire to be financially stable. So I was always good at math, I was always good at sciences. I preferred math and science over English and literature because there was a definitive answer, and I really appreciated that. [laughs]

    29. JS

      [laughs]

    30. ND

      And, um, so I, I pursued engineering. My grandpa was a pilot for many years, and he used to bring me to the airports, and I was always fascinated with aeronautics, with planes, and so my original intention was to become an aeronautical engineer. And when I went to college, there was no degree for that, so I switched to the next best thing, which was mechanical engineering. So I got my degree in mechanical engineering. But what's interesting, though, is that I never really felt a strong connection to it. It was purely coming from the place of what i- what position or what career can I have that's gonna provide that security-

  7. 19:59 – 28:34

    What to do when you’re unhappy in your career

    1. JS

      started to realize, "Why am I pursuing this?" That maybe that was only because you didn't have money growing up, and then your pursuit shifting. But when was that moment where you were like, "I don't think this is what I really wanna do"?

    2. ND

      First day on the job.

    3. JS

      Really?

    4. ND

      Yeah.

    5. JS

      Like that quick?

    6. ND

      Yeah.

    7. JS

      What was the reason?

    8. ND

      Yeah. So originally, when I was, when I was engineering, I wanted to get into renewable and sustainable energy, and that was my goal. And then I had all these job offers after I was graduating, and ended up going with the highest offer, which was oil and gas. So it was completely contradictory-

    9. JS

      [laughs]

    10. ND

      ... to, to what I originally intended on doing.

    11. JS

      Yeah.

    12. ND

      So I sold out. Um, not ashamed to say it.

    13. JS

      Yeah.

    14. ND

      And what, what I found was that, you know, I started... They started me off at a, at a six-figure salary. So my, my first year at 22, 23, I was making like 150 grand a year, and I thought to myself, "Wow, I have made it." Like, I remember crying the first, when I got the offer, 'cause I was like-

    15. JS

      Right

    16. ND

      ... "Wow, I finally made it. I can take care of my family now." And the first day on the job, I realized that, I was like, "This is not what I want to do. Like, I'm gonna have to do this for the next 40 years and then retire." Like, I quickly saw the timeline of what my life was going to be like, and that feeling is not a great feeling because I had just dedicated five years to getting my degree and had an incredible amount of debt. And I just stuck through it, you know? I, I, I lived with that for five years before I finally built up enough courage to leave that career and pursue something that was more meaningful for me. But it-

    17. JS

      Wow

    18. ND

      ... but it took me five years of, of really suffering with that and living with that to finally create enough discomfort for me to be like, "You know what? This, money is not everything, and I really feel like I have a deeper purpose, and I feel like I can make a greater impact in the world and be of better service to people by leaning into this thing that I had been doing on the side," which was, um, basically teaching people how to be vegan and in shape.

    19. JS

      That's, yeah, I, I wanna dive into that with you because I, I remember setting out, too. I really wanted to do art and design at university. Like at college, that was what I wanted to do. That was my favorite subject in high school, and I traded it to do a business degree, even though I did focus on and discovered behavioral science, which I fell in love with, which was actually my passion with art and design, which I later discovered. But I sold out, too, because I was just told so many times that art and design wouldn't make money.

    20. ND

      Yeah. [laughs]

    21. JS

      And so it was like, "Oh, yeah, you gotta make a smart decision." And then I became a monk anyway on top [laughs] of all of it, so, so it all went out the window. But a lot of people feel that way, where they have something that's calling them, something that's pulling them towards it, but then they push it away because something feels more realistic, or something else feels like the right thing to do. And it's amazing that you noticed it on day one, and I've created now a new methodology, and I'm repeating this because I hope I remember to use it again and again and again, and there are times when I remember it, there are times when I wish I remembered it. But I came up with a methodology of how I make decisions because I found that money was always such a tempting, tantalizing thing, or whatever. That's one of those, but I think there are so many things in the world that are just so attractive and lucrative that they distract us from what we truly want. And so I came up with something that I call, uh, ESM, and the E stands for energy. So the first thing I ask is, "Does this give me energy? Does this person give me energy? Does this project give me energy? Does the work energize me? Do I wanna bring my energy to this?" Like, is this an energy fit? And that's a question I always ask myself. If the answer is yes, then I move forward to the S, and the S is strategy. Okay, my energy feels good. It's like my heart feels good, but is this strategic? Like, does this strategically make sense? Does it make sense on the basis of do we also have the right idea? Sometimes something makes sense energetically, but if there isn't a strategy behind it, it won't last. It's not sustainable. So is there strategy behind this? Is there an effective method behind this, a system, a process that I can get behind, and that my energy will be directed clearly? I think a lot of the time you feel like, oh, the energy's amazing, a very LA thing as well, and it's like, you're like the energy's really good, but then it just kind of goes splat, right?

    22. ND

      Yeah.

    23. JS

      Like it's just everywhere.

    24. ND

      Yeah.

    25. JS

      And so, like, is my energy directed? If the answer is yes, then I go to the M, which stands for money. And it's like, does this make commercial sense? Does this make sense financially? Does it make... And so money is an important part of my methodology. It's just the third most important metric, and I only get to ask that question if I go through the first two. And that stops you from doing things just for something at the end.

    26. ND

      I love that.

    27. JS

      Uh, and it, and, and at least it's helped me.

    28. ND

      Yeah. No, I love that because, you know, I never, I never had that process. For me, it was always the lucrative, like, what can provide the most money, and I will endure whatever I need to to provide. And I'm not saying that money's not important. I-

    29. JS

      Agreed

    30. ND

      ... everybody has to provide for themselves, and everybody's in different situations. And for me personally, engineering just really clearly, uh, it was clear to me that it wasn't energizing me. It was very much draining me. So going to work every day was not something I looked forward to. I, I looked for reasons to leave. I was constantly distracted about the other life that I had wanted for myself. And, you know, I used to think that doing something that you love and making money were mutually exclusive.

  8. 28:34 – 31:59

    How do you find escape when you’re unhappy with what you’re doing?

    1. JS

      I wanna know how you survived the five years because I love that answer, that you knew it on the first day, but you had to survive and suffer for five years. I think that's very, very real because you're in your head trying to figure that out. Like, how did you deal and cope with those five years? Did you adopt bad habits? What did you do? Because I think oftentimes that's when people turn to, like, different things. I don't know if you did, but yeah, what did you do, and then how did you finally get out?

    2. ND

      Yeah. Yeah, definitely. I mean, there's w- when you don't, when you live that way, obviously, I'm, you, you find escape, right? There's, there's ways to escape, and thankfully, my escape was the gym. And-

    3. JS

      Right, right, right

    4. ND

      ... anytime I would get off work-

    5. JS

      That's a good escape though. [laughs]

    6. ND

      It was a-- Yeah, it was a great escape for me.

    7. JS

      Yeah, yeah, yeah.

    8. ND

      And I would go to the gym, and I would really just find peace, and it was, it was like my therapy. I would go to the gym, and, and I really do love training. I love the art of learning how this, this vessel works and how I can really optimize the movements and how it feels and, and just really sink into the, the process of, of developing my physical self. And what I learned in that process was how many benefits mentally there are as well because it requires discipline. It requires sacrifice. It requires intention and attention to detail. So that's where I really found enjoyment, was really in the process of learning how to develop my physical self. And as far as dealing with, you know, the five years, I had thought about quitting. I mean, I also am a realist and knew that I had to provide for myself, and I would also be giving up a very good opportunity and didn't have the clarity of what that next thing would be. And all the while, I was doing this other thing. It was right in front of me the whole time, but I needed to really ... find that path. Like, I needed the contrast of doing something that I didn't like doing because that gave me the clarity to find something that I really did. So I don't regret anything in my life that was painful or challenging because it's really shaped who I am today and given me the opportunity to have the clarity to pursue the things that really resonate with me.

    9. JS

      Yeah, yeah. A- and I guess you can deal with, you know what your clients are dealing with too-

    10. ND

      Mm-hmm

    11. JS

      ... in terms of the stress of the workplace, the stress of what they're going through, and you, you've been in their shoes, you kn- you know what it looks like. And I think that the thing that came to my mind when you were saying that was, um, you knew that you were falling in love with, with working out, and you were falling in love with this other thing on the side. I have a friend that, well, she, she used to be working inside a company, and she was stressed and hated it in the same sense as you do- did. And but she loved presenting, and so then she joined a company where she's a public speaking coach, and she goes back to the company-

    12. ND

      [laughs]

    13. JS

      ... she used to work at and teach public speaking.

    14. ND

      Yeah.

    15. JS

      Like, teaches communication, not just public speaking, but teaches communication, teaches negotiation, teaches people skills, and she's so much happier doing it. And I love seeing those stories where people have the courage to figure out the switch, but it sounds like you were doing a lot in your evenings and weekends-

    16. ND

      Mm-hmm

    17. JS

      ... to build this other route and build this other path. When you made the switch

  9. 31:59 – 35:35

    How can you create systems and become financially stable?

    1. JS

      over, did it feel like... Because I'm guessing when you first did it, were you able to replace your salary completely? No, right? That's, yeah, that's-

    2. ND

      No

    3. JS

      ... my friend, she's, it's taken her three years to replace her salary that she made before, but she's doing good now, and so-

    4. ND

      Yeah

    5. JS

      ... yeah.

    6. ND

      I think that working as an engineer and, and going through that, um, getting my degree really helped me think like an engineer, obviously.

    7. JS

      Yeah.

    8. ND

      So I approached it with that engineering approach of like how can I take this thing that I really want to do and create systems and processes for me to make it financially so I could pay for my bills, essentially. That was my goal, was like can I just cover my bills at that point in time? And what I wanted to do was reach as many people as possible, so I partnered up with a software engineer, and we decided to build a whole platform of how can I really systemize delivering the content, teaching people how to lift, providing educational content, and then also the meal planning, which is the most important part whenever people are trying to get in shape, is figuring out what to eat. So we developed a whole algorithm and a whole platform to be able to serve thousands of clients at a time, and it took months of planning. I wasn't making any money. I was just kind of siphoning away all my savings, and what's, what's really interesting is that first week whenever we launched our very first program and very first offer, I made more in a week than I made in a year as an engineer. And that's, that was the moment for me that I was like, "Wow, this is very possible-

    9. JS

      Yeah

    10. ND

      ... for me to continue to pursue." And obviously, that's, that's my experience, but it, it takes that level of, of planning and really having an approach that is, you know, risk-averse. You know, I, I'm not suggesting for anybody to go quit their job. I think that having a plan of action and having a timeline, uh, makes the most sense for you to not put yourself in a, a compromising position. So that's the way that I did it, and it's, it's panned out very, very well because it's given me the space to still work with so many people and still get to do what I love and not be so focused on in the business, just working-

    11. JS

      Yeah

    12. ND

      ... in the business, if that makes sense.

    13. JS

      And it also shows that a lot of our experiences are not wasted. Like-

    14. ND

      No, no

    15. JS

      ... first of all, growing up in a spiritual community made you vegetarian, made you have a ahimsa, made you appreciate, uh, life forms. Like, that's a useful experience even if at that time you felt alone and disconnected from the people you were around. Then you go off and you study engineering, which again, you're like, "I don't wanna be an engineer," but your engineering skills are the ones that you use to launch your passion.

    16. ND

      Yeah.

    17. JS

      And then it's like you discover what you love doing, which is working out, and now what you do is mixing compassion, working out, and engineering, and I, I love that idea that encouraging people to collect passions and curate their passion, and that's how you create your passion, is that you're constantly collecting experiences, and then you're bringing them together rather than like, "I found this one thing, and everything before this was a waste of time." And even in my journey, I feel the same way. It's like I loved art and design growing up, which has massively impacted my career today because I look at everything through the lens of art and design. And then I was fortunately great at economics and good at understanding business and then behavioral science, and that was v- that's obviously been very useful in my life today. And then obviously, I fell in love with philosophy, and I fell in love with teaching, and I fell in love with mentorship, and I fell in love with the wisdom that I learned from the monks. And now my life is all three of those things-

    18. ND

      Yeah, yeah

    19. JS

      ... put together, and I wouldn't trade any of those experiences. So if anyone's in a

  10. 35:35 – 37:34

    Developing resilience and strength

    1. JS

      bad place right now or and anyone's in a hard place right now where they don't enjoy what they do, or they feel they studied the wrong thing at university or college or whatever it is, none of that's wasted because you're just collecting experiences that will be useful if you look at it that way-

    2. ND

      Mm-hmm

    3. JS

      ... in what you're building. And that isn't a mindset. That's just true. That any skill you learn right now is gonna be useful later on

    4. ND

      Mm-hmm. Yeah, I, I believe in this, this, like, inclusion-based universe where everything is happening for your benefit. Every experience that you, uh, go through is happening for you, and you can be the beneficiary, uh, even if some very challenging times. And I believe that from the soul's perspective, we call in these experiences so that we can develop the strength or the resilience or the perspective to transcend them. So when I look back at my childhood, although it was, it had its moments of, of, of beauty and, and so much beauty in my life, there was also so much challenge and, and, and strife as well. And I see those moments now as what really shaped me and, and primed me for what I'm doing today because once, at one point, the thing that I was most ashamed of is the thing that I, I really lead with now. So just remembering that in any time of challenge, that this is teaching you something, and in some time, maybe you can't see it right there, but you are the beneficiary of this challenging moment, and it will allow you to keep growing. It's like, you know, there's so many parallels between the gym and life, you know? It's like you're under a s- uh, the bar at, doing squats, and it's very, very uncomfortable. You want it to stop. You wanna drop the weight. You're like, "No more, I can't handle any more." And then you push through, and on the other side of that, you develop the strength and the resilience, and your body adapts, and you grow so that you can handle that plus some the next time. So that's, that's the way that I really try to approach any challenge these days is like, "Okay, bring it on. I accept the challenge because I called this experience into my life so that I could transcend

  11. 37:34 – 41:10

    The bodybuilding journey and how it started

    1. ND

      it."

    2. JS

      What's the mindset, and where did bodybuilding come into it? Like, where- what's the mindset behind wanting to do that? Where does that come from, and what was that journey like? Because I think we hear about it a lot, I think, from celebrities in the media who have to look a certain way for movies or things like that, and then they come out years later, and they tell you how unhealthy it was. And but during, when the movies... I think it was Zac Efron recently. It was like, you know, he talked about the Baywatch, uh, movie, and it's obviously when you watch that movie, you're like, "God, Zac looks-

    3. ND

      Like, that was

    4. JS

      ... Zac looks incredible"

    5. ND

      Yeah

    6. JS

      And he did, and then, you know, he was on TV shows at the time, but then I think he came out recently, and he was talking about how unhealthy it was or how he didn't feel great about it. And I think a lot of men talk about that afterwards as well, and women of course talk about it, but I feel like it's great when a couple of men start opening up about how even though they look great and every guy wanted to look like them, it, it wasn't healthy. But for you, how, how has that journey been for you? And I'm intrigued to... I've never asked you this before, so.

    7. ND

      Yeah, no, it was a bit of an arc for me, you know? I remember always being the small kid growing up, so there was a bit of insecurity there. And so definitely ego played a big part in for me to want to develop myself because it, you know, it quite literally built layers between you and everybody else. And if you're trying to protect your fragile nature or your little wounded self, then this is a great way to do that, even if it's masked through other things. So that was, that was a big journey for me because originally when I got into it, I had, I had that reason, and then the more I did it, the more I really started to, to do it because I loved it and didn't train because I didn't like myself or the thought of, if I'm out of shape, nobody will like me, or I won't like myself, and started shifting and reframing that to, I, I really love taking care of myself because I feel good when I do. And that's what really led me to lean into it and, and to continue to discover ways in which I could just develop myself further. And, and then somebody actually suggested it to me in the gym one time. They said, "Hey, there's this show coming up locally, and you should do it. You look great." And I was like, "Yeah, right." [laughs]

    8. JS

      [laughs]

    9. ND

      "You will, you could not pay me to do that." And then I thought about it. I was like, "You know, I don't have anything else going on. Um, this could be some new challenge, some- something exciting." I did it and ended up winning the first show that I had competed in, so obviously when you excel at something, it, it motivates you even further.

    10. JS

      Yeah, it propels you. Yeah.

    11. ND

      So, yeah, yeah. So then the, the marriage of, like, teaching people how to do what I did without eating any animal products felt really aligned with me because I had heard up until that point that you couldn't win a bodybuilding show or, or bodybuilders need animal protein. So here I was showing other people that you could do it, and that's what I really felt the call beyond myself to say, "Hey, if I can inspire other people to live more compassionately, then this is worth me pursuing because it brings me that much more fulfillment, and I see the difference that it's making in, in..." Maybe th- they might be complete strangers to me, but it's nice to know that people are out there listening.

    12. JS

      Yeah.

    13. ND

      And that's when I continued and eventually became pro, eventually did that for a few years. But then afterwards, I got wrapped up in the identity of, like, being a bodybuilder, and that's when I started to recognize that, hey, maybe this isn't for me anymore because I'm, I'm attaching so much of who I am to what I look like, and that doesn't feel good anymore. So that's when I decided to step away from the sport altogether and just retire in 2018.

    14. JS

      I mean, that's, that's a real journey because, like you said, it often starts with, like, ego or validation from ourselves, from others. Then you kind of get to a point, if you're lucky, where you're like, "Okay, now I'm doing it for myself, and I enjoy it."

  12. 41:10 – 46:47

    How can you stop external validation from dictating how to live your life?

    1. JS

      Talk to me a bit about that journey because I think that's the hardest part of that journey is, like, going from like, "I do this because I want the validation from myself and others, and I wanna protect, you know, the, the younger me" to, "I'm actually gonna do this because I like feeling better." Like, walk me through some of the steps there because I feel like, yeah, that, that feels like a long, long journey.

    2. ND

      Mm-hmm. Yeah, it, it was for sure. And you know, it, the ego's a funny thing because once you shine the light of awareness on a part of your ego, it just kind of dances into the shadow, and it becomes a little bit more insidious and tricky and shows up in new ways. So for me, it, it kept showing up in different ways to where I was realizing that it wasn't bringing me happiness anymore. Like, I felt this obligation, this pressure to be this person, and at the time, my following was continuously rising as, as my popularity grew. And the- Really just the exposure to people's comments and things that they had to say about me, I started to notice how much it was affecting me, and specifically focusing on negativity. And I was like, "Why am I really focusing on this and allowing it to really disrupt my internal state?" And that's when I started to get real with myself and saying, "Oh, because I am seeking this validation, and it means so much to me when people think highly of me and when they don't, it really affects me mentally." So that's when I started to, to take, take a step back, do more self-reflection and say, "Maybe I'm not doing this for the right reasons anymore, and I should explore that."

    3. JS

      Yeah, and I, and I like that reflection because I always try and walk into things with the right intention, and then I try and reflect on my intention while I'm doing it. And I can often find that it's easy for your intention to get distorted. And then I ask myself, "Can I bring my intention back to doing it for the right thing?" And then if I can't, that's when I leave it. So my goal is always I try and start with the right motivation, the right approach, and then it's natural for it to get distorted. That's always gonna happen to any of us because we're not perfect, because we're not, we haven't got everything figured out. And so I'll realize that, oh, maybe I did kind of go too far this way. And then I'll see if I have the ability to come back, and sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. And so it sounds like you went through that same process of, you know, can I do this again for the right reasons? When you were doing it at its peak and you had people coming up to you, talking to you about compassion and plant-based life and veganism, like, did people notice that? Were they aware of that? And then what would they say to you? Like, what were, what was people's reactions? I'm just intrigued.

    4. ND

      Uh, yeah, I mean, there's always a lot of curiosity, a lot of interest whenever you hear somebody doing something that's, uh, unorthodox. So a vegan bodybuilder is a, is an oxymoron for a lot of people. They don't believe it's possible. So to see somebody doing it and competing at the highest level, um, it brought its own pressures to me because people, e- especially the vegan movement, tended to pedestalize me and use me as this poster boy, this example for, uh, somebody who could do this, which I enjoyed and then also equally didn't enjoy because I would be thrown into arguments online and, and people would just use me as this, uh, example where I, I just open up my phone and just see all these comments of people arguing back and forth. And again, my, my goal was to never be polarizing, uh, online or, or it was, it was to inspire the people that really wanted to live this way. So, uh, that's, that also played a huge impact into reassessing what kind of message I'm putting out there and to really, again, just lead, lead with compassion and, and show that you can coexist with people who have different views on life, different perspectives than you, where we're often more times more common than we are different.

    5. JS

      Yeah.

    6. ND

      So, uh, that's, that's another reason why I felt like bodybuilding is a sport of comparison. It's me literally lined up to another person and comparing the two. And I always approached that sport with it's always just me versus me. I could never control what anybody else was doing outside of, you know, that experience. It was like you step on stage, it's not me versus these other guys. It's just me versus who I was yesterday. But that's really when I wanted to step away from the sport so I could continue to focus on the thing that I originally wanted to do, which was to help serve people-

    7. JS

      Yeah

    8. ND

      ... in my highest capacity, which is when I started coaching-

    9. JS

      Yeah

    10. ND

      ... after I left bodybuilding.

    11. JS

      Yeah, and that's, and that's what I find interesting too. It's like knowing when to quit something and quitting stuff is such a good skill that I think is underrated. Like, we rate people in society for how long they can do something-

    12. ND

      Mm-hmm. So true

    13. JS

      ... as opposed to how quickly they can let go of something that doesn't serve them or serve others anymore.

    14. ND

      Mm-hmm.

    15. JS

      And I'm more interested in that sometimes where I think about, like I let go of being a monk at a time when I didn't feel like it served me or served others anymore. I let go of my corporate career because it didn't serve me or serve others anymore. I let go of the first content I created. We don't make content like that anymore because it didn't serve me or serve others anymore. And it's like we've, we've evolved in so many ways, and I often think that we keep putting time you've done something on a pedestal as opposed to time you stopped doing things that didn't make sense to you anymore. And so even hearing that from your perspective and it's like we did this bodybuilding, we achieved so much, and then I had to leave it behind in order to move into coaching. And, and you know, in the coaching space, you've worked with some incredible people, and you don't have to name anyone or whatever you, whatever you feel comfortable with. But in the idea

  13. 46:47 – 55:26

    How do you coach someone and push them to live a healthier lifestyle

    1. JS

      of like when you're coaching someone or anyone who's thinking about becoming a coach or thinking about becoming a, a trainer or a guide, a teacher in any capacity, what, what were the things that have been really important that you've learned through coaching other people who are high performers?

    2. ND

      Yeah, it's, it's, it's realizing that it's not about me. It's not about me coaching them. It's about me helping my client discover the, the power that they contain within themselves. So oftentimes people think that they're not one who could possibly get into shape or do the things that they commit because they just get in their own way. So what I've found is that those are symptoms of, of underlying beliefs, maybe their subconscious beliefs that are preventing them from doing the things that they really want to do. So when I coach, and you know this from, from working with me, is that I like to talk a lot during our sessions and hear what your experience is like because oftentimes language reveals so much about how we think. And ironically, the way that we view ourself has a huge impact in the way that we show up for our, our physical health. So as I'm training people, it's almost like, I don't wanna call it therapy, but it's just a really deep conversation where I learn about my clients on a level that allows them to see what kind of capable, powerful person they are. And then once they recognize it themselves, then they start to show up and believe it themselves.

    3. JS

      Yeah. So yeah, for everyone who's listening, Nimai trained me during the pandemic, I think it was, for a few months we worked together, and I, I guarantee Nimai has never had anyone-

    4. ND

      [laughs]

    5. JS

      ... that he's trained [laughs] that has been worse than me. Literally, I would like... And, and Nimai's a great trainer, and he's everything you just said he is. Like, you know, it was very, like, therapeutic working with him, you know, super supportive, constantly making me look for the power within myself. And I'd be like, nine times out of 10 after a session, I'd be lying on my bed-

    6. ND

      [laughs]

    7. JS

      ... [laughs] for like 30 minutes just trying to recover, uh, because I'd love the coolness of my bed.

    8. ND

      Yeah.

    9. JS

      And I would just need to sit there and just, like, take it in because it was so high intensity in a good way. But at the same time, I also broke through a lot of mental blocks I had around what I believed around what my body could do or, you know, what, what I believed my body was capable of. Like, we were able to dial back and start slower and build up again. And, and I think you were so great at doing that. Like, I think it's so beautiful. I- as- I'm a coach too, and I think when I'm being coached, I really appreciate it when someone makes me feel like I can get there and that it's okay that I'm slower or that it's taking time. I'm already going through all the self-judgment [laughs] and self-criticism. The last thing I need is for someone else to criticize me too. And, and to have someone who's supporting you along that journey, I really felt that with you. I've always felt that with you through our friendship, but I also felt it very much in that time, and I think those are such great skills for all relationships actually, not just for coaching. But if you're teaching your partner something, if you're teaching your child something, if you're teaching your parents something, if we could be more supportive and notice the goodness in them and notice the attempt and notice the positive attitude that person have and the fact that they showed up, that person is gonna feel inspired. But if we criticize them the first time they fumble or judge them the second time they make a mistake or point out to them how much better everyone else that we train is [laughs]

    10. ND

      Mm-hmm

    11. JS

      ... that doesn't help anyone. And I, I, at one point I had... One of my clients took me to play golf with him, and I don't play golf, and I'm- I've never played golf before that day. And I had a coach at the center we went to, and the coach was incredible, very patient, very professional, you know, very there for me. I was only there for a day, so I only got a day of coaching, but by the end of the day, I was half decent. I was okay, as in I could do something. And when I came back to LA, because we, we were traveling together, but when I came back to LA, I tried to look for a golf coach here 'cause I really got into it, and I was like, "Oh, this could be a cool thing to do, and maybe it'd be fun to get into it with Radhi," and I took Radhi with me. And I got a coach who'd supposedly worked with, like, some of the best of the best and all the rest of it, and I couldn't take a shot without him correcting me every second. And it almost became really draining and tiring because I was like, "I need to hit, like, 10 shots to then be corrected, but if I'm corrected in every half a swing-

    12. ND

      Mm

    13. JS

      ... it's really hard for me to, like, find my flow."

    14. ND

      Mm-hmm.

    15. JS

      And I felt so criticized and judged and everything that I kind of never saw him again after, like, seeing him a couple of times.

    16. ND

      Mm-hmm.

    17. JS

      And it just showed me that being a coach is really tough, being a student is really tough, but often I think we wrongly coach our friends and family, and that's where I find the coaching conversation to be most interesting. Even if you're not a coach in your career, how you try and teach things to your family, your friends, your kids, your parents-

    18. ND

      Mm-hmm

    19. JS

      ... goes a long way. I wanted to hear your thoughts on that.

    20. ND

      Yeah, no, it, it, it's meeting people where they are, right? And, uh, and understanding that everybody is where they're at, and that is the only place they could be with the awareness that they have in that moment. So really having compassion, 'cause really, I mean, coaches just help you get one step ahead at a time. If you try to share something with someone who's not ready to receive that message, it's just gonna go over their head.

    21. JS

      Yeah.

    22. ND

      So I really love starting with the fundamentals of, of helping people make those small incremental changes that compound to be big, big difference in their, their physical health, but not just their physical health, but, like, the way that they believe they have the, the confidence in themselves that they can achieve the things that they want to. So like you said, sometimes people are their own worst critics, and, and having compassion towards yourself whenever you're learning something is a skill, and it's not something that we exercise very much. So I really try to help my clients also exercise that muscle of can you be compassionate with yourself? Yes, you may be not where you want to be. Maybe you're a bit out of shape. That's okay. The difference that you have now is you have the awareness that you want to do something about it. You don't have to judge yourself for the mistakes that you made. All of that process was... or all of those decisions were coming from a place that maybe you didn't have the awareness to, maybe you didn't have the skill set to, maybe you didn't have the resources to. But now moving forward, you have the support to, and it, you first have to be kind with yourself-

    23. JS

      Yeah

    24. ND

      ... first and foremost. So if you, if you feel guilty or if you feel ashamed of allowing yourself to get to this point, just know that yes, it, you, you, you... we're always accountable for what we do, but there's no need to belittle yourself or, or beat yourself up about it. It's like I- I like to use this example with my clients. If you were to hand a child a calculus problem and tell them to solve it, and they weren't able to solve it, would you yell at them or scream at them or tell them how stupid they are or how incapable they are? No. They just don't have the awareness to solve that problem. And That is the same kind of thinking that you could apply towards yourself. Like, you would, you would be gentle with them, you would be kind with them, you would be supportive, you would ask them what they need to help get them to that place. So that's the way that I like to teach my clients to think about themselves so that the next time they show up and they say, "Hey, you know what? I slipped up." But, but slipping up and giving up are two totally different things.

    25. JS

      Hmm.

    26. ND

      So it's okay to slip up. Failure is part of the formula for success. So you, you, you learn, you make mistakes, you get better, you make more advanced mistakes, and then you get better.

    27. JS

      Hmm.

    28. ND

      So that's the formula that I like to teach, uh, my clients as well. [laughs]

    29. JS

      Yeah, yeah, yeah, I love that. And what I love about that approach is just fitness and working out and, and anything we do externally is so much more of an internal journey. Like, it's like overcoming the inner critic-

    30. ND

      Mm-hmm

  14. 55:26 – 59:40

    How do you find the motivation to show up for yourself?

    1. JS

      through.

    2. ND

      Yeah, yeah, and, and focusing more on the process too, and not so much the outcome. Because the outcome, yes, people are motivated by results, but if you're only motivated by results and they don't come in the timeline that you expect them to, then your motivation will tank.

    3. JS

      Yeah.

    4. ND

      So finding that intrinsic motivation of, of not just looking, uh, a certain way in the mirror or seeing a certain number on the scale or being able to squat, uh, 1,000 pounds or anything like that, but really being intrinsically motivated by the feeling that you're looking to achieve by doing this. So showing up for yourself, going to the gym, and just remembering or just thinking about the feeling that you would get once you have that internal freedom within your body, the comfort of what it would feel like to just wake up and, and feel good. Just feel good in your skin and feel capable of, of handling whatever life throws at you because you have been consistently training and showing up in this way.

    5. JS

      Yeah.

    6. ND

      So I really try to preach just focus on the process, and if you can really l- find a way to enjoy the process, to make it fun, to make it exciting, like fitness is not just about going to the gym. There's many different forms of fitness, so if you don't like training or you don't like lifting weights in a gym-

    7. JS

      Yeah

    8. ND

      ... like, you could do tennis, or you could play soccer. You could go hiking. You could go biking. You could go, uh, paddleboarding. There's so many different things-

    9. JS

      Yeah

    10. ND

      ... that once you find the enjoyment of it, then you're more likely to keep doing it.

    11. JS

      Yeah, absolutely. Nimai, it's been so dope talking to you, man. It's just like I, I feel like there's so many great lessons from just hearing someone's journey, and, you know, even though we've been friends and we've talked before, it's like to actually hear your journey step by step, and I, I noticed this in everyone that I think is living happier, healthier, and healed lives is that it's just that they took the time to reflect and then shift. That's like a common thread I find in people who are happier, healthier, and more healed is that they weren't smarter. They weren't better. They weren't... And this applies to me too. It's like, uh, you didn't- it's not that you were above anyone, and it's not that you were below. It's not that you were ahead or behind. It's that the only difference is you took the time to reflect and shift your life according to your reflection. And I find that today we do a lot of thinking and overthinking, and thinking and overthinking is where you just let the same thought go over and over and over again, but reflecting is asking yourself, "Is this the right thought? Is this thought useful? Is this the thought that I want to play again and again and again?" And if the answer is no, let me shift my behavior so that I can have a different thought, or let me plant a new thought so that it can shift my behavior. And so I see that through your journey, and it's just, I hope that this conversation encourages you to listen to your friends, listen to the people around you, to, to make time and space for reflection. Because even reflecting with you today, I'm l- it's amazing to see how many similarities there are, even though we do very different things or have achieved very different things externally, but there's so many similarities in how we had to pivot and shift.

    12. ND

      Yeah, I mean, I think it really comes down to listening to yourself, like you said, that self-reflection, that listening to your gut, listening to that inner knowing, and you, you- it's, it's much more difficult to find that without creating the space to listen. So for me, that meditation is also whenever I move my body. Some people find it in stillness. I find it in movement.

    13. JS

      Hmm.

    14. ND

      And that is when I find these, this, this connection to this higher self, if you will, within myself to where I get all my best ideas. I find the most inspiration. So creating the space for whatever that looks like for you to, to really tap into the deepest part of yourself that brings you the most fulfillment and most joy and most clarity about who do you want to be? What type of person do you want to show up as? What type of life do you want to have? And are you living in alignment with those, those thoughts, or are you living incongruently with that? And that, that disparity between the two is signified by how you feel about it. So you're always being shown and being guided by your, your feelings. So learn to tap into the good feelings and what feels right and what feels true for you, and then just continue to follow that.

    15. JS

      Absolutely. Nimai,

  15. 59:40 – 1:03:16

    Nimai on Final Five

    1. JS

      I love that. I've, uh, we end every episode with a final five.

    2. ND

      Okay.

    3. JS

      These have to be answered in a one word to one sentence maximum. Um, so Nimai, these are your final five. The first question is, uh, what is the best fitness advice you've ever received or heard?

    4. ND

      Hmm, just be consistent.

    5. JS

      Okay, yeah.

    6. ND

      Just be consistent.

    7. JS

      That is good advice.

    8. ND

      Yeah, yeah.

    9. JS

      All right, the second question is what is the worst- ... fitness advice you've ever heard or received?

    10. ND

      That you have to go to a gym to get fit.

    11. JS

      Mm.

    12. ND

      You know? I would say that you have to- you don't have to sign up to a gym to get in shape, you know, just find what you like to do that's active and gets you moving.

    13. JS

      Yeah.

    14. ND

      And that's what's most important when it comes to fitness.

    15. JS

      Yeah, I remember when you turned a random room in our house into a-

    16. ND

      Yeah. [laughs]

    17. JS

      ... a, a home gym-

    18. ND

      Yeah

    19. JS

      ... during the pandemic, so yeah, I believe that now after having seen you doing that, uh, do that. Uh, question number three, what, uh, how would you define your current purpose?

    20. ND

      To help inspire people to lead with more compassion.

    21. JS

      Beautiful. Uh, question number four, what's, uh, something that you used to value when it came to physical fitness but that you don't value anymore?

    22. ND

      I would say the, the, [laughs] this is a bit superficial, but the amount of weight that I, that I lift in the gym, I see so many people lift with their ego, and they're just being very inefficient with their movement, and they're essentially wasting their time in the gym. So leave your ego at the door whenever you go into the gym and lift with intention.

    23. JS

      Mm.

    24. ND

      Don't just go in there to swing weight around and look cool, but really go in there with the intention of, of mastering the repetition. If you can master the repetition of any movement, then you will see so much faster results than anything else.

    25. JS

      That's great. I love that. That's a good piece of advice. Uh, fifth and final question, if you could create one law that everyone in the world had to follow, what would it be?

    26. ND

      To be kind to others, um, accept people where they are and who they are. Um, I think that the world would be a much, much more pleasant place [laughs] than what it is right now.

    27. JS

      We need a lot of that.

    28. ND

      Yeah.

    29. JS

      Everyone, that's Nimai Delgado. Make sure you check him out if you don't already on social media. We will put, put his handles everywhere, and make sure you tag us, uh, both me and Nimai, with anything that stood out in this conversation. I think this was one of those conversations where, you know, we learn so much about so many things we go through all the time, things like pivoting your career, things like knowing when to quit, things like how to process your early experiences and turn them into something else, and then ultimately, how do you find what you love and live in that way and totally create a life around what you love and what you believe in, whether that's loving your workout or loving your career. And so I hope this episode guides you closer towards that direction. I hope this episode moves you in that direction towards your greatest gifts and your greatest potential, and I want to say a big thank you to Nimai for spending his time with us today. Uh, thank you so much, man. That was amazing, and it's so good for me to sit and learn more about your story, and I hope a lot of people are gonna come and learn from you and grow in so many different ways.

    30. ND

      No, thank you so much-

Episode duration: 1:03:16

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