At War with Wellness & At Peace with Politics w/ Reggie Hubbard

[00:00:03] Welcome to Make One Day Happen, the podcast that makes woo-woo relatable for busy founders, leaders, executives and high performers who give a fuck about prioritizing themselves in their personal and professional development.

[00:00:17] I'm your host Shenna Jean and on this show we'll cover the bases on a lot of different topics that relate to energy management, mindset, leadership and all things woo through solo episodes and dope ass guest conversations.

[00:00:28] Our guest lineup is so fire and includes professional athletes, award winning musicians, New York Times bestselling authors, thought leaders, CEOs, industry experts and more who share their stories about how they've been able to make their one day happen with a little bit of woo in their journey.

[00:00:43] My promise to you is that after every episode you'll leave energetically shifted with an elevated vibe and feeling hella grateful that you made some space for yourself along with some tangible things you can get into action with. So pull up a seat and let's get to it.

[00:00:55] Welcome back to the Make One Day Happen podcast y'all. I'm your host Shenna Jean and joining us today is Reggie Hubbard. He's the founder of Active Peace Yoga whose mission is to make yoga more accessible to all regardless of race, gender, body type or practice level to form peace of mind and general well-being as a foundation and not an afterthought.

[00:01:19] Reggie is on purpose AF without apology in service to honoring the ancestors and planting seeds for our collective liberation. The primary focus of his teachings are to bring more peace and balance to activists and to guide the wellness community towards being more engaged concerned citizens.

[00:01:35] He believes that achieving this balance is how we catalyze transformative change. Reggie also teaches members of the Congress, Congressional staff and political operatives basic asana and meditation which in my opinion is one of the highest callings in this lifetime.

[00:01:48] He currently serves as a senior political strategist for a leading progressive campaigning organization managing the relationships, impact and communications with Capitol Hill. We bonded on a boat over bowls. His was Tibetan, mine was crystal and we became fast friends and as it turns out birthday buddies so we got some leavers in the house today.

[00:02:08] And this man is truly an across the aisle icon. His ability to hold space for the both and is incredibly inspiring and I am very excited to dive into conversation with you today so welcome to the show Reggie.

[00:02:22] Thank you lovely to be here looking forward to whatever manifests.

[00:02:27] Me too. I'm also like having a moment the project management software tool. Have you one that's asana and I just call it asana asana I fucking hate that project management tool messes with me.

[00:02:42] I very much know that we practice asana not asana so I'm just gonna go ahead back check and correct myself because I got it right the first 32 times we did this take.

[00:02:53] You know who's to say that it's wrong.

[00:02:57] Why thank you. I'll take that.

[00:03:00] Right.

[00:03:01] Well, I'd love for you to give a do you know your human design type. Have we talked about this before it gets manifesting generator.

[00:03:09] I had a sneaking suspicion that was the case. That's the we're on the same team there as well. Why don't you give the listeners, a little taste of who you beat how you came to be in your story here the first few minutes and then I've got some fun questions and topics for us to dive off the deep end into totally Reggie Hubbard he him his I am the grandson of Robert and Nadine Hubbard I'm the son of Reggie Hubbard and when Hubbard Scott.

[00:03:36] I am a person who through trial and error has learned to love myself so fiercely that it really doesn't matter what happens outside of me because the meat really matters is the energy and not anything that's external and I don't mean that I don't know hippie bullshit I mean that I'm a spiritual being having a human experience.

[00:03:58] This experience happens to be in a big body black body, which is usually on the short end of the stick in many ways because of my size. People view me as threatening and intimidating because of my color.

[00:04:11] I'm part of the untouchable cast in the United States, and my reconciliation of that experience because they used to hate it because it gave me so much pain.

[00:04:23] But when I learned to alchemize that pain into wisdom, like when I learned to see that the things that I perceived as holding me back and actually made me unstoppable.

[00:04:36] When I stopped playing by the arbitrary rules of man and began to play by the rules of the ancestors in the planet, like everything unlocked for me.

[00:04:47] I'm a yoga meditation teacher in this moment. I'm a political strategist and political operative in this moment. I mean lover a brother, a cousin in a human in this moment.

[00:04:57] And that's the last thing I would say in terms of wayward introduction is that I am at war with mainstream yoga.

[00:05:06] I'm at war with and how does a man who has a teaching practice called active peace. How does he say he's at war, because I believe there are systems whether they be governmental whether they be institutional that are causing tremendous harm.

[00:05:21] And that we did not just go through the pandemic season to pick up norms that are defunct and it caused irreparable harm.

[00:05:30] So I my teaching practice was born of the pandemic. So unlike most teachers, I'm current, you know, I believe I'm talking about what's happening in this moment in the cadence that people are listening that there's no disrespect to some of these older teachers.

[00:05:43] There's some of my friends, but my teaching practice was born after the Trump era in the pandemic and manifesting through a middle aged hip hop head who listened to a ton of public enemy read the autobiography of Malcolm X and native son when I

[00:05:59] was like 10 and like Revere Prince and Jimi Hendrix is the patron say it's about teaching practice.

[00:06:05] Welcome. We are so glad that you are here in this lifetime on this show today and I was thinking about it too. You said that you were a national treasure.

[00:06:17] That's what Nancy Pelosi said yesterday. Yeah, yeah that she called you a national treasure and I was like, okay, Nancy have a global treasure and then I was thinking about it even further I was like fuck that universal treasure.

[00:06:28] And I really I had this moment when I just like I had this like vision of your soul like they pulled a card and they were like all right who wants the black man teaching peace and politics in America and 2024 and I just saw your soul be like I got that.

[00:06:46] Like that bro's wild.

[00:06:55] Right. That guy's wild.

[00:07:01] And I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad you're here.

[00:07:07] That's funny you know it's funny because we were talking about that in pre-production. My life is wild right and like the me that I really am is ridiculous right and so as we become more acquainted.

[00:07:19] It's just one of those things where I am number one.

[00:07:23] I taught at Kripalu recently and this woman was like you got a lot of confidence and I was like through no help of people like you.

[00:07:29] Looked her dead in her face.

[00:07:32] And comments like that like wrong brother baby like nah eyes free and more educated than your entire family and you ain't gonna talk to me slash us because you know I have a very strong ancestors practice like you ain't gonna talk to us like that.

[00:07:51] You know what I mean. I'm the incarnation that you can see but what you can't see are the prayers of hundreds of people that are watching this thing happen.

[00:08:01] You know it used to be illegal for people like me to read and I went to Yale. You know I mean first in my family to do that.

[00:08:07] I'm not saying that no I don't know ego stuff because I know full well that because my black ass graduated from Yale they hate me even more because like I'm beating you at your game.

[00:08:17] You know what I mean. So and I got my own thing going on so I thought I had to mask and live your life. I don't but I can use what I learned from your world and just make some magical stuff.

[00:08:29] Yeah this is I'm so excited for our conversation because there's I think there's a couple different arenas that I want to dance in with you.

[00:08:38] I want to talk politics because it's election year and I think the world of wellness is just such a fascinating one and intuition on where you want to start.

[00:08:49] Yeah so I mean politics is the easy one but you know before we forget like before I forget this I love darkness like I consider myself kind of the prince of darkness and sort of just like the reason that I can have so much equanimity now is because I've been through some shit.

[00:09:05] You know what I mean. Like like I lived in Europe and then at the end of my graduate school career I was already broke but I'm actually burn my apartment down. You know what I mean.

[00:09:15] And so like I've been homeless in a foreign country depending on the kindness of strangers and guess what a few strangers showed up but some didn't.

[00:09:25] And so like I've had levels of heartbreak in this human experience that have made me the compassionate person that I am that have given me fearlessness.

[00:09:34] And so I know that you were talking from like a daylight type of perspective but darkness and darkness and our friends. The reason that the wellness world is at a crossroads that's I was saying that to say this is that just like hey everybody everything's great that shit don't work right now.

[00:09:53] It's not great. We've got tremendous grief that we have to process you know what I mean. We have tremendous heartbreak that we have to find space for the heart to mend and there are teachers out there that are so afraid of the shadow that they're they're intoxicating themselves on the delusion of permanent light.

[00:10:12] So I knew I would forget that.

[00:10:19] I just had to say that real quick. Yeah no we needed that word. It's very easy to run from the darkness and that's where we come from. That's what we're going back to. We are we are darkness and we're seeing it play out on a full scale in the world right now.

[00:10:36] And I personally am certainly coming out of like a season of my own healing and darkness. And I think there's there is such a beauty to be able to embrace and hold both.

[00:10:50] And if I'm going to pick one or the other put me on the light side. Yeah.

[00:10:58] And alchemizing right alchemizing and recognizing that my light actually gets brighter the more darkness I embrace. Absolutely right. And I mean it's one of those things too is that the good vibes only crowd.

[00:11:13] That's just not a service right now. You know what I mean like in terms of my yoga practice I don't consider myself a yoga teacher I'm a yogi like it's my it's my lived experience like it's my spiritual discipline.

[00:11:25] It's the system through which I manage and navigate this world in addition to the other traditions that I hold. Right. So and I consider those traditions to be black liberation.

[00:11:38] You know what I mean like I have an intimacy with my my ancestors because I know their stories and I know the stories that my grandparents used to talk about.

[00:12:20] And sadness and those sorts of things. You realize that you're connected to one another. You realize you're connected to like the trees and the stars and the illusion of isolation is the thing that we got to get past so we have an individual experience to get past the individual experience.

[00:12:40] And I know I know that because my my grandfather Robert Hubbard who if I could be half a man that he was and is energetically I would consider this a successful trip on the planet.

[00:12:53] Poppy is what we call them. So she's my aunt. I was visiting her last weekend and she was like Reggie you've got to see this and my aunt like she's my homie like she like I've known and love her for years but she said gotta and I was like hmm like what's that.

[00:13:10] You know what I mean. And so she sat down with an anthology of stories of black elders from the little country town where we're from in Virginia and in that anthology was a handwritten letter from Robert Hubbard detailing his transition from being on the Russian front.

[00:13:30] So he was serving in the Navy in Alaska and for 42 months and he's coming back from serving on the front for 42 months to Jim Crow in Virginia. Right. It's a lot. And he even said I did not fight for democracy for 42 months to come home to this.

[00:13:47] So Poppy didn't probably didn't curse like that. That's my job. But like he essentially was like I go through what I just went through to come back to this shit. You know what I mean. Pop I'm not putting words this is my interpretation. So like I know you wouldn't curse like that but you know the modern day translation sir.

[00:14:03] Yeah. He knows his grandson. So he they would not let him and other soldiers of color into the room where they were being fed. I guess they were headed back to barracks or something. And Poppy was just like essentially you may not feed me but I'm not standing out here in the cold.

[00:14:24] So you know he could not stomach that indignity even though they wouldn't feed him right. So goes on in this letter that apparently like some white officer another white person got on the bus and was essentially like are all the niggas on the bus.

[00:14:39] So pop was just like got in his face and I know that we're related because I've said stuff like this. I was just like now I know I just didn't hear what I thought I heard dinner and the guy was like and so popular was like good that he didn't answer because I might have sent him to his birthplace

[00:14:57] which definitely wasn't heaven closer to hell. You know what I mean so that story the day before Black History Month or the week before like Black History Month I got to share that story yesterday to kick off a Black History Month celebration with the speaker of merit and Nancy Pelosi and other members of Congress right.

[00:15:16] So that story that I didn't know about came into my understanding this past weekend and I got to share my Black history in front of a whole bunch of activists. So just that synthesis of experience is just kind of like yeah so to your point I don't know who the animating energy is.

[00:15:38] I'm not as intimate with the animating energy that I truly am but this weaving of past present and future that's the yoga that I'm into the yoga of presence the yoga of transcendence and not transcendence in terms of like I'm trying to separate myself from this experience.

[00:15:53] But I'm trying to fully embody this experience so that I can not only find liberation but people that I cross paths with can find liberation.

[00:16:03] And like I said earlier we didn't just go through what we went through in the pandemic season to go back to Ibiza and get like drugged out and pretend like the shit doesn't exist.

[00:16:13] Yeah, the the pandemic opened opened eyes and opened ears it opens hearts it open consciousness and I do think and would agree that like we're at war to keep that progression moving.

[00:16:28] That's exactly what I'm talking about.

[00:16:30] Because there was a lot of awakening in the white consciousness that happened and yeah you look around you're like wait are is anybody else still doing this?

[00:16:41] We're still doing this right like I'm anybody else know.

[00:16:45] Yeah, okay.

[00:16:46] So that's exactly what I meant by I'm at war like I'm at war with ignorance, willful or even in may have a little bit more compassion for like ignorant like if you don't know no better.

[00:16:57] But if you do know better and as a servant of truth as a servant of satya you know and everyone wants to talk about Ahimsa and nobody want to talk about it they have a seven.

[00:17:07] Right, like but as a servant of truth we saw that if we come together if we rest the body if we stop over consuming if we love one another.

[00:17:21] Like I want to ask you that do you remember when Lysol like didn't exist and there were like shortages of toilet paper, and there was no PPE because the president the former president was hoarding it like or whatever just being as incompetent as they are.

[00:17:36] You remember that we made masks for each other.

[00:17:39] Mm hmm.

[00:17:40] You remember that we took food to people who couldn't get there and yet you left it on the stoop or whatever because you couldn't get clothes like and you remember how like our collective blood pressure went down because we were taking care of each other and like the pollution on the planet wound down you remember that?

[00:17:58] Yeah.

[00:17:59] I was that was two and a half years ago like God just like how quickly you want to pick this like so I'm at war with that I'm at war with the yoga industry that isn't about serving other people you know I wrote this in a journal entry last night I was just

[00:18:13] I'm over seeing self care is narcissistic.

[00:18:17] You know self care is not narcissism like self care is minding intending the vessel so that we can be of service to one another that's what the teachings talk about the teachings don't talk about man I'm gonna have a fat ass on Instagram and do splits and have everyone be it's not even that's not or look at my hand stand listen having ability in your

[00:18:42] physicality is cool but the body is a is designed to be a vessel of the spirit.

[00:18:51] It's like nobody got the kosher's memo right right right we need to we need to fact check all of these why TTS happening around America and do you even know that there's there's more than one body here right well I actually just recorded we go down the rabbit hole on kosher's and really helping people

[00:19:11] understand like this this is only this is this is one meat suit and this is not the most important one as it turns out this is not the most important one it's the most basic but it's also quite important because it allows the other stuff.

[00:19:25] It right it is it is the it's the tuning fork itself right yeah and then there's all the energy that's coming through the wisdom you know all of it so.

[00:19:37] The interview with.

[00:19:38] Her name is Evan soroka I love Evan Evan and I have the same teacher Rod yeah yes oh man Evan and I go way back yeah yeah I've done a lot of subtle body training with her and she's she's she is legit and just one of the yogis that has been tremendously impactful in my life as well.

[00:19:57] I wrestle with my place in yoga as a white woman often especially having worked for lululemon for quite some time and really grappling with the impact that that's had on on Western culture and it's one of these places where I get to stand in my end in both.

[00:20:13] And really recognize that like yo reality is we need more Westerners doing yoga even if it is just Asana like at the end of the day if we can get more people to just chill the fuck out stretch and breathe like and that's all they're going to get from it like we still need that and so there is a lot of like okay I can see I can see this and then there's also like.

[00:20:36] And really is like holy fuck how could I could have been so complicit in something that was just really like and well intentions.

[00:20:45] Just problematically executed and yeah well I mean you can complicit implies that you are willfully there you know what I mean like once you know better and do the right thing and then you're going to be able to do the right thing and then you're going to be able to do the right thing.

[00:21:04] Once you know better and do better that's not complicit that's just ignorance and that's part of the human experience if you know better and continue to do worse.

[00:21:15] Yeah then we then there's a bigger problem that's complicit yeah that's thank you for that give yourself grace yeah yeah I think that's it is one of the more challenging parts about the white experience is waking up to ignorance and harm that was not necessarily complicit.

[00:21:34] Right and just right yeah right that is that is a big part of where I see so many white people struggling with a lot of the reality of the world that we live in it's challenging to have to hold those.

[00:21:49] Big emotions of shame and guilt they're the lowest vibrational frequency of emotions they're very heavy and so not to excuse some of the behavior that people have around that and like that is.

[00:22:01] Kind of this opposite experience that that white people get to have and choose to move through knowing that like we got to we have to if we're going to get on the other side of this as a collective and liberate everybody from the lower vibrations that we've been hanging out in for far too long.

[00:22:19] Yeah one of the dream I definitely have a time for right now but maybe in another couple years or so is that I have done this and would like to do more of this like for white folks who want to figure that stuff out like.

[00:22:33] So black and brown people have intergenerational trauma related to oppressive systems.

[00:22:41] Right like violence we took your land we killed your family like I came to you at gunpoint was to get out of here or like Tulsa they burn the shit down you know and like just like that is the trauma from for black and brown people.

[00:22:57] White people have the trauma is that like a few people did that they got derivative benefit from that and some for their people who were probably like I don't agree with this like in their spirit.

[00:23:13] But they held it.

[00:23:14] But they held it.

[00:23:18] And so that I can't imagine living that way because like I've taken vows is to be free you know what I mean just I'm not keeping words like I'm not also not going to like speak out of like compulsion right so white folks who did not agree with the system yet benefited from the system.

[00:23:35] Having had a chance to mourn and like more and we could have done better and didn't you know that tends to happen to shame reflex but not in a compassionate context right like people felt that they could not do something that has to be more right that has to be voiced.

[00:23:58] And there is no space and you talk about both and like I'm a black dude saying this like there is no space in this culture that holds space for the sanctity of like white grief right and most people are like what are you upset about blah blah blah blah blah listen it ain't that binary family you know it's just not you know what I mean like they're like for people that want to do better for you to shame them for not having the right to do that.

[00:24:31] And so having an understanding soon enough that just doesn't there's no grace there you know what I mean so I take issue with teachers that use people's guilt and shame as a cudgel they should feel this way yeah but that's almost as cruel as what they did.

[00:24:48] I mean because it's on a subtle level like this so the subtle body is injured and for people that don't have the spiritual understanding to heal the subtle body like that lends to like people being trapped and I'm here to I'm here to set beings free beginning with myself I at some point want to hold space for like look I'm not I'm not going to like.

[00:25:09] Pussy foot around the stuff you know what I mean like this there is a place for grief and tip for it not to be ridiculed for it not to be valued because like if you have genuine feelings and someone doesn't acknowledge them then it gets stuck you know what I mean that feeling for me used to be anger.

[00:25:27] And so like I've had to work that's why I've got so many gongs and bowls and stuff people are like you kind of fell into the deep end of the you don't know the depth of the anger that I've had to release myself from.

[00:25:39] Right, you know when people you're peaceful I was like that's what my shit is called active peace like I had to work very hard to get here.

[00:25:50] There is a lot of gyms in that sir.

[00:25:55] Thank God it's recorded.

[00:25:57] Yeah, there is a thank God for sound medicine. Yeah, for sure. And you know, Edgar Cayce said the sounds sound that sound is the medicine of the future, and he said that what like 100 years ago so sound is the medicine of now y'all.

[00:26:15] And still aren't down with it. I know it's coming though it's coming. It's coming.

[00:26:21] Right, and I find myself in this very moment. Hey well Huberman just dropped a podcast this week on non sleep deep rest and SDR and yoga nidra and doing some research on that that showing that dopamine levels increase 60% after a yoga nidra and it's it's exciting to see the research that's coming because westerners are so fucking stuck on needing their research to believe something.

[00:26:50] And it's like fine I will find all the research I possibly can to show you that all of these things that have been going on all around the world except for here for thousands of years.

[00:27:00] Right, it is what it is. And I feel you there it feels like I'm beating my head against a wall. A lot of times trying to explain to people why you need to slow down to speed up and like why you need to be prioritizing your rest and your well being you can't.

[00:27:14] You can't push this fast all the time you're gonna crash and burn what you're building will fail if you're not putting a foundation of well being into it. And I love what you said recently when you I can't remember the guy's name Camden maybe Cameron.

[00:27:30] Yeah, Cameron. Yeah.

[00:27:31] Yeah, Cameron you guys were talking about how I think it was the idea of like black wellness is going to eliminate or dilute white oppression. Yes, exactly. And that's so powerful.

[00:27:45] And the idea that as we create these more foundational pieces we start to eliminate oppressive systems. And I'd even offer it's like wellness for anybody like right like wellness in corporations is going to start to eliminate capitalism as we currently know that structure and wellness in so many different areas and yet wellness itself can be a little toxic.

[00:28:12] And so really making sure that we are holding ourselves in integrity and the wellness industry and making sure that it's coming from a space of honestly just pure love. Right.

[00:28:28] Right. And I'm curious to know to talk to us a little bit more about this idea of creating it as a foundation and not as an after that because more people need to be on to this mode.

[00:28:40] Yeah. So to your point about the Western wellness industry, the I mean I've taken yoga teacher trainings like thousands of hours of them right. And while I do appreciate the wisdom that I paid for and glean from them and those sorts of things.

[00:29:00] Who says that a class has to be 60 to 75 minutes. Who says that, you know what I mean that's that's not even remotely necessary. Right. It is if you have a business model that needs that sure but like for you to have well being it doesn't have to take 60 to 75 minutes and I mentioned that because how many people have you heard and you know you live in different circles and I do and so my circles tend to be more type A.

[00:29:29] And like time compressed when that's not a human or there but it's just the life that I've been given. I just don't have time for it. Right. And so I taught last night for the Yale Club of Washington D.C. I taught them basically chair yoga and likes in basic sound meditation and I broke each segment down by like minute and that was just like so pause have like a mindful pause in between things.

[00:29:56] So the first thing we did was this just like shoulder shrugs and those sort of things. Right. Get one with you right now. Right. Do yoga right now. Right. If you want to make an excess for us or whatever but just get into the shoulders spinal twist. Right.

[00:30:10] Right. And then I say stop eyes closed. Feel it. And then I was like that was 60 seconds. How do you feel after that. And so so to these type A folks with compressed schedules I'm just like yeah not even people who have 60 minutes have 60 minutes but if I could show you in four minutes how you can totally reset your hands face neck and shoulders given the body what it needs.

[00:30:39] Would you be interested. Right. And so you know that's the foundation. So every day my personal practice is now that I'm getting back into physical health I'll probably do more awesome and more walking and stuff out of bum wheel.

[00:30:53] I sound bowls at my feet. So when I wake up and I typically might step in one of them because they're that close. My feet hit the ground. I'll give grab look at my phone or it's this time cool play sound at the start of my day foundation literally setting the vibe.

[00:31:14] So rather than saying I don't have time for it. It is at my feet. So you have to design your life and how you take care of yourself is the is the necessary part of the initial design. It cannot be an afterthought. If it's an afterthought.

[00:31:33] It isn't revered it's not sacred. You know we prioritize what we consider sacred and sometimes what we consider sacred isn't sacred right. But like that's what I mean by foundational. So how do you start your day. How do you end your day.

[00:31:48] Do you end your day. Do you have the awareness and or rituals or routines that if you're all over the place in the middle of the day are you prepared. So I've got sound files and you know this because I blow you up with this all the time.

[00:32:00] I got now files that I've recorded on my phone that if I'm tripping I can play them. If I get a sense that someone's going through something I can send them. So as a teacher it's a foundational practice for me that if someone comes into my heart and mind I got this peaceful thing I can just send it throw it across the ethers as a practitioner.

[00:32:23] My foundation is literally having my mind be open clear maybe some humming chanting or whatever. But just like making sure my throat is clear in my mind the peace my heart is open then I engage with the crazy world not engaging with the crazy world.

[00:32:37] Oh my god. Like why is everything all over the top because you don't have roots in a strong trees have roots and they can dance with the wind shallow likes weak trees don't have roots and they view the wind and not as a dance partner but as a threat.

[00:32:51] More dance partners please.

[00:32:56] I call it energy hygiene and for sure for sure use that language with folks to really help them understand that a we have an energy body that we all know what bad vibes smell like.

[00:33:07] Bad vibes are often like having something in your teeth too. Like you don't always know that you're the one with bad vibes right. Right. Like it takes some practice and awareness and so helping people understand like oh maybe you're the one with bad vibes coming into the room.

[00:33:26] And we also know that what it's like to walk into a room where there's bad vibes if you don't have a strong energy hygiene practice and you can get sucked into that shit so easily.

[00:33:35] Like it just pulls you right in and holds you there. And so it's really important that we understand what are the foundational practices and rituals that you're starting and ending your day with that anchor you back into yourself because this world is designed as fuck to keep you distracted numb plugged into everywhere else worried about worried about all the other things that are happening and blowing in the wind.

[00:34:01] Yeah.

[00:34:02] For sure.

[00:34:03] Fucking world. What are we doing here again?

[00:34:09] I'm having a lot of fun with it right. So like one of the blessings of the practices that I hold is that everything has its place.

[00:34:18] I've had a lot of grief and loss recently in my life and that has its place because like it's allowed me to like begin to teach grief. It's allowed me like my I found sound through grief in darkness and these sorts of things coming back to darkness like I when I play sound especially in person even online like I taught a class last night and people are like oh my god I'm like imagine if you were with me though.

[00:34:44] I try and tell people because people are like what virtual sound and like yeah they're like why is that something you do live it's like yeah like but you can like listen to Beyonce on in the on your speaker in the shower and sing along and have a phenomenal experience with yourself.

[00:35:02] And then you can go front row and yes you're gonna have a much different experience. However don't just wait to go see your live once get that sound in your ears and also like no shade to Beyonce obviously love love.

[00:35:15] However pop music is doing a fucking number on people right now. Right. Right. Pop music is destroying us and this is coming from someone who loves pop music. Right.

[00:35:28] I mean I've even got I'm about to call myself a former Swifty with all the madness that's happening there. Although it does seem like if Dems need to.

[00:35:39] I was gonna say if she can help us win an election I'll pay attention to it. I mean I won't support it they don't need my money but like please use your energy to reduce harm and suffering.

[00:35:52] Someone else besides Biden please. Yeah I mean that's deeper than that though. I mean the system the system everywhere needs reform and part of the reason that we have who we have in politics is people don't stand up and run.

[00:36:06] And if more people stood up and subjected themselves to elected office then we would have a different crop. But if people opt out then you get what you get.

[00:36:16] I will. So here's this is OK so this is part of my questions for you. You know like help put a girl on right like Marianne Williamson.

[00:36:23] I'm here for Mary. Are you familiar with her very can you give me your thoughts on that because it feels like even if we do have alternate outside of the box options within either of the two party system that are standing up and waving their hand and trying to get in.

[00:36:41] Like they still get boxed out like to see the complete lack of coverage that Marianne's getting from any sides like a tells me that that means she's more of a threat potentially on both sides than people want her to be.

[00:36:54] And so like like help me understand that more as someone who really does consider myself a bit of a politics rookie and someone who does be a little bit more informed to give a little bit more of a shit.

[00:37:06] So I'm going to let you speak to some of this.

[00:37:09] We have been deluded into thinking that we have to love our politicians.

[00:37:14] Fair. We don't.

[00:37:16] I just need you to do what I need you to help safeguard a behemoth system and try and keep it as agnostic and or virtuous as possible.

[00:37:29] That's all I need you to do especially in the two party system.

[00:37:33] There is a place in the arena for debate and and and at the same time each system has been set up there are mechanisms there's a whole bunch of stuff between state.

[00:37:48] So the federal election system, each state controls their elections.

[00:37:54] So someone not getting put on per se could be that they don't have the signatures to get on the ballot.

[00:38:01] Right. So it could be just the mechanics.

[00:38:04] I mean, and I used to teach civics too.

[00:38:06] So like they send their results to a to a federal coordinating committee that ratified each state certifies and then sends it on especially for presidential stuff in terms of the bigger system.

[00:38:17] 20 was it 20 when everyone in their mom was running the 24 people or whatever.

[00:38:23] So and I used to I worked for Bernie in 2016.

[00:38:26] Right. And so like I've worked for the DNC and I've worked for Bernie.

[00:38:29] The problem of politics is that people are involved.

[00:38:35] And what I mean by that is it's people at their most raw.

[00:38:39] That's people at their most basic.

[00:38:42] There are great people in there, but there are also people who view it as an opportunity to amass power and those sorts of things.

[00:38:49] So I just need an imperfect system to function as benevolently as it can.

[00:38:55] That's kind of where that's kind of where I've come to these things in my life.

[00:38:59] Where in this in its as it's structured now, I need you to do no or little harm period.

[00:39:09] People like myself who are activists, though, like we need access to the system to reform it.

[00:39:18] Right. Because the the other side of that is chaos and chaos causes harm.

[00:39:23] So that's another thing. I said the last thing I'll say is that and this is what I said to my younger cousin who was he's not that keen on the president.

[00:39:31] I mean, I work for Joe Biden, too. So it's different because I know him a little bit.

[00:39:34] He was just like Reggie. I was like, listen, before you talk about the popularity contest, I'm going to talk to you from my organizing side.

[00:39:42] I would rather have a president who needed my vote in appears weak because I can influence them.

[00:39:52] Right. So when people throw up their hands and don't vote and have no agency, then you can't influence the process.

[00:40:00] And not only can you not influence the process, but, you know, people dismiss my vote doesn't count.

[00:40:05] My vote doesn't count. I had a call today with the Democratic Party executive director in Georgia.

[00:40:11] Joe Biden won that seat by eleven thousand seven hundred votes. Right.

[00:40:17] Out of like four and a half million cast. Every vote doesn't count.

[00:40:22] Right. And another the last thing I'll say about that, and then we can get more granular as desired, is that unfortunately in the human condition, we're dealing with a whole bunch of imperfection.

[00:40:36] I would rather choose the imperfection that harms me.

[00:40:40] Then it's not this is not the same as lesser than two evils. Right.

[00:40:44] Lesser of two evils. It's that we live in a system where we only have two parties. Right.

[00:40:49] It's either chicken or fish. And as the brother from Georgia said today, he was like, it's chicken or fish in the system can be reformed.

[00:40:58] That's what Oregon. But the other thing is who's chicken and who's fish?

[00:41:02] I mean, you choose your analogy. Right. You know what I mean?

[00:41:05] But what the brother said from Georgia, he was like a chicken or fish and the fish has been outside for five weeks in the hot sun and they just put ketchup on it.

[00:41:14] So you choose that. So that's what my brother Kevin said.

[00:41:18] And again, like I said, I want us as we mature as a society.

[00:41:23] I don't have to like my political officials.

[00:41:26] I just need you to do the job that we ask you to do the best that you can do, understanding that especially at the federal level, it's a mess.

[00:41:37] And the last thing I'll say in support of the president is that like, I cannot imagine subjecting yourself to lift a country out of a pandemic and an economic disaster.

[00:41:54] Yeah, I couldn't either, which is why I tend to.

[00:41:58] For me, politics has just been something that it's like, OK, we all have different things that we care passionately about and go hard in the paint for.

[00:42:07] And politics has never really been that for me.

[00:42:11] And as someone who's like, all right, well, how much of how much of my privilege is keeping me in that?

[00:42:20] How much of my just ignorance is keeping me in that?

[00:42:24] Like, what you know, how much do I do need to give a shit?

[00:42:27] And it's like, I want a third party. I want a third party.

[00:42:31] Well, I want more options than what they currently give us.

[00:42:34] And it's like, how do we start to go about that?

[00:42:38] I'll challenge that. Like the notion that is of they give us takes away agency from the people.

[00:42:46] So like if enough people, though, as an organizer, like I have had to go from no one supports this to it passing something like that.

[00:42:56] That work is not glamorous. Right.

[00:42:58] And so like it involves like a lot of like like fits and spurts and these sorts of things.

[00:43:05] So if the people if the people truly wanted a third party, they would organize and make it happen.

[00:43:10] I'm not saying that about you specifically.

[00:43:12] Yeah, like if it was really a thing, like people would organize and make it happen.

[00:43:17] Like one of the hardest things I ever organized was impeachment, the impeachment of the former president.

[00:43:22] Like when that thing got going, we had two to six votes.

[00:43:28] And as a movement, we organized bit by bit by bit by bit.

[00:43:34] And, you know, my job I worked for move one at the time and I had a connection with the speaker's office and I would be in there and I'd be like, how many votes do you need before like we do something here?

[00:43:47] And we would just go back and forth.

[00:43:49] And I would tell my people I was just like they said 150.

[00:43:53] And I told them that if we get to 150 and they're not moving, then I'm going to step out of the way and let the hounds into the office.

[00:44:01] You know what I mean?

[00:44:02] So if it's not that they give us, that takes away our agency, that takes away the well established fact that a group of committed people who create community and grow that community makes substantial change.

[00:44:19] It's not that they give us.

[00:44:21] It's just that we have been diluted into thinking that we can organize and change.

[00:44:26] I'll absolutely take that language upgrade because I believe that so much of the systems are held in our language and something as simple as what you just pointed out there.

[00:44:37] So thank you for that reframe.

[00:44:39] I think where I can get stuck and where I see others getting stuck is if you're tele frustrating, the if politics, especially in an election year, so much of the information is is channeled through mainstream media, which is paid for specific

[00:44:55] outcomes.

[00:44:56] Like that's the part for me that it's like, well, fuck, like how do we get around that?

[00:45:01] How do we get around?

[00:45:03] You got to get involved.

[00:45:04] You got to get engaged in and find out for yourself.

[00:45:07] Already been doing some research.

[00:45:09] Yeah, I mean, and I mean, the other part of it too that isn't helpful is that there's rampant disinformation to distance them because the other thing too for oppressive systems to remain empowered.

[00:45:21] People have to be ignorant, negligent, exhausted and scared.

[00:45:28] They're doing a phenomenal job.

[00:45:31] Right, right.

[00:45:32] And so like, and I know this from the from the viewpoint of my liberation is that once I stopped buying into the notion that the man was out to get me.

[00:45:44] But that may be the case on one level, but you know who's not out to get me?

[00:45:50] You know who's got me?

[00:45:52] The sages, the saints, the ancestors.

[00:45:56] Right.

[00:45:57] So on this plane, yeah, the man's out to get me.

[00:45:59] But on this other level, like, oh, that's cute.

[00:46:03] Protected. Yeah.

[00:46:04] Right.

[00:46:05] So fusing those two, I'm able to do a lot of damage to oppressive systems because, and this is what I teach at some of the black male healing retreat work I've been doing is just like so permission and refuge was launched last year.

[00:46:19] I was inspired by George Floyd murder, but I also had occasion to like beat Mike Brown Sr. who was killed in, Mike Jr. was killed in Ferguson 10 years ago.

[00:46:29] And a whole bunch of brothers who have either been nephews, uncles of black men who were killed by the state.

[00:46:37] I work a lot with Kripalu, as you probably know, and Kripalu was like, you know, you're a visionary.

[00:46:43] I get that market and shit out, you know, cool, but whatever.

[00:46:46] And they were like, we'll help you do anything.

[00:46:48] I'm like, anything.

[00:46:49] Help me heal black men with your money.

[00:46:53] And they said yes.

[00:46:54] Fuck yes.

[00:46:55] So, if I were caught up in the dialectic of, you know, white institution, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah, like there's no room for possibility there.

[00:47:06] So but because I'm rooted in like prayer and sound and discipline. It came up I was like, oh yeah I want to do anything. Let's do this.

[00:47:16] And then the realm of spirit all things are possible.

[00:47:20] So permission and refuge bust onto the scene last year. We had two retreats, the first one was so special.

[00:47:28] It literally shook Kripalu to its core. And they were like you can do another one in a couple months right.

[00:47:34] So the first one was planned the second one, like was thrown together 80 days later in August.

[00:47:41] And it's now helping reform the institution, helping them achieve their scholarship goals, because they want to have people who don't have a lot of money come there and experience it.

[00:47:54] It's helping the brothers that come there for themselves in their lineage and everyone who impacts them.

[00:48:02] One brother, two brothers actually so Cameron was one of the brothers like his whole black healing thing is launched in LA, because like permission and refuge gave him the confidence and like the spiritual boost to go back home and help liberate black people.

[00:48:18] So, if we continue to play and this goes for all spiritual practitioners. Why are you playing by the master's rules to use black history parlance like they want you to be trapped they want you to be ignorant they want you not to care.

[00:48:31] And, you know, for people of color they want you to be trapped in misery for white folks they want you to be trapped in privilege. Right.

[00:48:39] So, in those circumstances like if I can take people not have privileged to a privileged place.

[00:48:48] So, if you're taking men of color to Cripalu.

[00:48:53] It's basically blowing everything up, you know what I mean so what you can't so over here.

[00:49:00] I'm like Jimmy Hendrix Martin Luther King, and a spider in between it. My job is to be the web that connects the people to the powerful, the future to the past like that's the job of my spiritual practice.

[00:49:16] So, as by virtue of that when people tell me so when you were talking earlier about why are they giving us that I think that is a that is a construct that is false. That is limiting your ability to perceive.

[00:49:29] I hope you're catching what's happening right now and why it's so fucking important to have people in your life that will help you listen for the things that you cannot hear.

[00:49:41] I'm gonna say that one more time. It is so important to surround yourself with people who are going to help you hear the things that we cannot hear because as humans, there's a lot of shit that we all say that we cannot hear ourselves say and this is why it's important to seek out mentors coaches teachers healers that help us hear this shit so that we can reframe reprogram and start to move in a different direction so thank you Reggie I really really appreciate you.

[00:50:10] I appreciate you and for sure it's I fucking love getting buttons pushed in my head to like be like don't this way. What happens if you go that way.

[00:50:21] I mean that's why communities important. Absolutely right. That's why you know and the other thing too that I've been given is tremendous confidence and what I mean by that is that in our culture these days, people view their value by the number of likes and all these other things or

[00:50:40] As a teacher and as a person if I impact one person.

[00:50:46] That has infinite possibility. Amen.

[00:50:49] Like so teaching to the one like being of service to the one impacts the many because for me like if I am if I ship one person this way, because we're all connected.

[00:51:02] It worked. I mean, sometimes even more powerful, because you don't know who that one is.

[00:51:09] Yeah, there's in my notes and prepping for this. I was just really reflecting on how

[00:51:16] How aligned our assignments are.

[00:51:19] Yeah, my assignment, as I currently understand it is to create a ripple effect and raise the vibration of human consciousness and I really see this ripple effect and like exactly what you're speaking to is like it just takes repositioning one person and their energy hygiene for them to be able to go out and start impacting things differently.

[00:51:38] And that web that you weave is so freaking. It's beautiful. It's, it can change all of the things if we choose to think differently.

[00:51:50] And what are your thoughts on Marianne Williamson as someone who come from the wellness world jumping into politics. I think that my experience of Marianne is having read a return to love a long time ago and now I'm going through course and miracles text on my own.

[00:52:09] She was actually the keynote speaker at an event that I was working in Aspen, Colorado. Back in 2018. Yeah, it was 2018 and she comes into a very privileged elite white room speaking for everyone who's not there.

[00:52:26] And she was speaking their truth in such a profound way that it definitely shook the room and the way that she navigated the fragility and the uncomfortableness like it was profound and she had a standing ovation by the end of it.

[00:52:43] I was like, this woman is legit. Like this is incredible. And yeah, so I'm curious what you think about her as an option in the Democratic Party.

[00:52:55] Well, I think I love that the I love the impact she's had with you.

[00:53:00] And one of the more of the tips and tricks of any successful movement is that if you get the youth on your side, then you've got the future.

[00:53:11] Like the present is what it is. The past is gone. But like if you impact the youth, then you have a chance to reform things. I love the fact that in terms of an option.

[00:53:22] Wait, are you calling me youth?

[00:53:24] No, I'm talking about like, I mean, like give yourself 10 years like, you know, you'll take that as the dopest compliment ever.

[00:53:34] But now I wasn't saying that, but like I know of her impact between 19 to 25 in 19 to 30.

[00:53:40] Like I know that a lot of people in that age range were like, hey, and when I saw that, that gave me hope because of the work that I do in politics.

[00:53:49] And this basically look being upset about the present shouldn't keep you from wanting to change the future.

[00:53:56] So I don't think she has the institutional knowledge to impact the party, which is not a bad thing because sometimes that you know, this is my work with Bernie Sanders.

[00:54:08] Sometimes change comes from the outside. Her role may not be to be top of the ticket, but to be be the influencer.

[00:54:18] So the issues that she talks about, like I believe that compact like politics need to be more compassionate.

[00:54:25] I believe that people need to look out for other people as a matter of course, not as an exception.

[00:54:30] And the more people talk about things that way, then things will change.

[00:54:37] I mean, I've met her and like I've been in rooms with her and there's no doubt the impact that she has the mechanics of building a successful

[00:54:46] national campaign are wild.

[00:54:51] Right. And I think that's this is again goes back to where we just were in the sense of, OK, if I see a candidate that I'm like, oh, that would be interesting to try and figure out how to support and put emphasis or you know, whether it's RFK Jr.

[00:55:07] Trying to help establish a third party, whether it's towards it's it's like, OK, where do I want to put my energy?

[00:55:13] Because as where I sit, like, I don't want to put my energy towards Biden.

[00:55:17] I don't want to put my energy towards Trump either.

[00:55:20] I'm interested in trying to figure out how to support a political system that feels like it's rigged on all sides and that if I think this is where a lot of people in America get to sit and they're like, OK, well, what do we do?

[00:55:36] If we can't stop everything that we're doing in our life and start to jump into the deep end with politics.

[00:55:42] It's kind of the both and thing, right?

[00:55:44] So then this is this is me being a political operative in a general election where it is a binary choice.

[00:55:53] Choose something that is most aligned with your values in a circumstance that isn't a binary choice.

[00:56:01] Do whatever you feel that you need to do to offer support to it.

[00:56:05] Like you can do both. You can do both.

[00:56:09] Right. Like, no.

[00:56:11] Or I'm not going to tell anyone what to do with their vote because of the civic seizure.

[00:56:15] I don't believe in that. Yeah.

[00:56:16] But I will say for you, if you are a woman or a person of color and or both and you cavalierly talk about my vote doesn't matter.

[00:56:26] That is insulting to the people that died for you to be able to say that.

[00:56:30] Women's suffrage is 1920, just over 100 years like black suffrage.

[00:56:40] You know, yeah, it was after the Civil War, but since 1965, people were blown to bits or drawn and quoted, among other things, for people to be so cavalier about that.

[00:56:53] Yeah.

[00:56:54] And that's not to shame people, but that's history. Those are the facts.

[00:56:59] Well, I appreciate you going down a what for me is like, I don't want to fucking talk about politics.

[00:57:07] I dig it. So props to you for like stepping into something you don't want to deal with.

[00:57:12] And I hope that I gave you insight and a little bit more medicine on that.

[00:57:16] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:57:19] Let's go back to sound because I know that you.

[00:57:24] Yeah, more sound, less politics.

[00:57:27] Although, honestly, like I'm doing sound in political spaces.

[00:57:31] Yeah. Thank you. Thank your wild ass soul for choosing to try and put peace into politics.

[00:57:37] That was a bold contract you chose.

[00:57:41] Go big or go home.

[00:57:43] Yeah.

[00:57:44] Go big and go home.

[00:57:45] Yeah, all of the above. I love your new page, Gong Hits for Peace.

[00:57:50] And it's amazing.

[00:57:53] Yeah, like one of the best things about having met Reggie, y'all, is that I'll just get a random ass audio track from him that's either gongs or bowls.

[00:58:02] And it inspires me to send some back to him.

[00:58:05] And it's a great, great sound is just such a powerful friend.

[00:58:11] It's such a powerful medicine and healer.

[00:58:15] And tell us a little bit about your vision for Gong Hits for Peace.

[00:58:20] And so Active Peace Yoga came about during the pandemic.

[00:58:27] No one wanted to teach online.

[00:58:29] I literally embraced the platform by me dominating quite literally the online platform.

[00:58:34] That's how I can get all these fancy places because there's like, oh man, this guy's a lot.

[00:58:38] And Gong Hits for Peace.

[00:58:41] So you can't have Jimi Hendrix and Prince as the patrons and to your practice and not fuck with sound.

[00:58:47] I mean, you know, I don't know what I was thinking when I was like, oh, this surprised me.

[00:58:51] It's just like how, how, how is it surprising for you to be so forward with Jimmy and Prince that you're fucking with sound?

[00:58:59] Like that just doesn't. You would just be in low vibe for a second.

[00:59:03] Like, so get back into like whatever.

[00:59:06] So you know this as well as I do.

[00:59:08] There's a lot of sound out there, but it ain't got no soul.

[00:59:12] It's a whole bunch of people playing chopsticks on some shit and not allowing the instruments to play through them.

[00:59:19] Playing chopsticks is something that you do to learn the piano.

[00:59:22] But then once you have a connection to the piano, the music flows through you.

[00:59:27] So similarly, the way I try and offer sound is that I'll give you an example.

[00:59:32] A couple of weeks ago, and I share this with you, I think I was at Keewa Island, South Carolina, this healthy wealthy wise retreat by a woman in Karen Hunter.

[00:59:40] And she invited me to do sound based on.

[00:59:43] So I got the radio gig with her because of my work at Kripalu.

[00:59:48] And this woman was just like Reggie, you know, you walk around like you own Kripalu and I was like, ma'am, I walk around like I belong.

[00:59:54] I don't know nothing. You know?

[00:59:56] So she was like, whoa, people need to hear more of you.

[01:00:00] And so she put me in touch with Karen. Karen and I are rapping.

[01:00:03] I play one of my sound bowls and she's like, I feel peaceful out there.

[01:00:06] Yeah, imagine if you got 30 minutes of that in a 20 second.

[01:00:09] So me being like, right.

[01:00:12] She was like, so you want to come to my retreat?

[01:00:15] And I'm like, oh shit, you were serious. Okay, right on.

[01:00:18] And so we're there and it was at 10 o'clock at night.

[01:00:22] And so it was after like the karaoke and spades tournament.

[01:00:26] That's how black and beautiful this experience was.

[01:00:29] And I'm expecting like 10 people to be there.

[01:00:34] Sound, whatever, whatever.

[01:00:37] Sheena, 125 people came. Whoa.

[01:00:41] All black. Whoa, let's go.

[01:00:44] Mostly from the south.

[01:00:47] Seventy five percent of whom had never been a sonic experience before.

[01:00:52] Oh, my goodness. And the day before we had an ancestral ritual

[01:00:57] of us being the progeny of people that were basically thrown a cast away

[01:01:02] from the sea. Right.

[01:01:04] So when 125 people were in this room, I was just kind of like, okay,

[01:01:08] and here we go.

[01:01:11] The set is only 30 minutes long.

[01:01:13] And luckily a woman did it on Instagram live.

[01:01:16] So it's out there and I'm trying to find a way to download or whatever.

[01:01:19] But I talked for eight minutes and I only played for 22 minutes.

[01:01:24] And to show you, for those of you who are sound novices,

[01:01:28] Sound doesn't care about time.

[01:01:30] Sound doesn't care about what you think.

[01:01:35] And sound doesn't really care about the false limit of the skin and the body.

[01:01:40] Sound just goes through and around. Sound does what it does.

[01:01:44] Yeah. In 22 minutes of I had like some crystal harmonics,

[01:01:50] some Tibetan, Tibetan scale and like three or four gongs.

[01:01:56] And unlike most people, and I just say this again,

[01:02:00] no shade on other people, my sonic experience is different than yours.

[01:02:04] But I'm not trying to make music. Right.

[01:02:08] I'm trying to channel sound.

[01:02:11] And in the blend, so there were couples back to back holding hands.

[01:02:15] It was all this loving, releasing energy in the room.

[01:02:19] 22 minutes that room, which the day before felt as heavy as a boulder,

[01:02:23] was light as a feather.

[01:02:26] 125 people in that room.

[01:02:29] And it was as if no one was in there because the energy was so light.

[01:02:34] That was an answer to prayer. And I said this to them, I was like,

[01:02:37] so I teach a lot of people.

[01:02:39] Most of them don't look like me.

[01:02:41] And I know the impact that sound has had on me is in terms of just

[01:02:45] my personal healing and generational healing and stuff.

[01:02:48] So for me to be able to shift, like I said, to our earlier point,

[01:02:52] that shift of 125 people, you may, they may never do that again.

[01:02:57] But I see it has been planted because they have,

[01:03:00] they felt an out of body experience.

[01:03:03] They felt a connection to people that they didn't necessarily know.

[01:03:06] And they felt a connection to peace in this realm

[01:03:11] that they have never had before.

[01:03:15] That's why I fuck with sound.

[01:03:19] It's truly transformative.

[01:03:22] And I meant to send you a text about this, so I'll just tell you about it now.

[01:03:29] The last sound journey that I did, and I love your distinction, right?

[01:03:34] There are different types of sonic experiences.

[01:03:37] And Reggie's is very different from mine.

[01:03:39] And they'll all feel very different based on the energy

[01:03:42] and tension of the facilitator that's guiding you through them.

[01:03:46] And mine specifically is a little bit more structured

[01:03:49] and has guided visualization that goes along with it.

[01:03:52] And we had a much smaller room, but it was packed.

[01:03:56] And it was in Greenwood and just a kaleidoscope of humans

[01:04:04] and multi-generational.

[01:04:06] We had people bring their kids.

[01:04:07] We had people bring their parents.

[01:04:09] And to sit there on this sacred land and have the ancestors peering,

[01:04:16] I could feel just like thousands of eyeballs on us

[01:04:20] just watching what was happening from this space of like,

[01:04:24] we truly are the ancestors' wildest dreams.

[01:04:27] Because there's a room full of people who feel safe enough on this land

[01:04:32] to come lay down and rest for an hour,

[01:04:36] to close their eyes and bring their family members.

[01:04:40] And at points got just like overwhelmingly humbled, right?

[01:04:45] Like just to be able to continue to hold that energy

[01:04:49] in that space for people.

[01:04:50] And it's just such an honor to be able to be here.

[01:04:53] And sometimes I'm like wondering like, why the fuck am I in Tulsa?

[01:04:56] Yeah, right.

[01:04:57] This is why.

[01:04:58] This is why.

[01:04:59] It's to be able to share healing tones with people.

[01:05:03] And I think that's really more healing in humanity

[01:05:06] and sound is such an accessible, simple, easy way to do it.

[01:05:15] Like you don't have to sit there and talk about shit.

[01:05:17] You don't have to unpack a whole bunch of stuff.

[01:05:20] You bring up an interesting point there.

[01:05:22] So that's another reason why I lost Gong Hits for Peace

[01:05:26] and I even say it in the beginning.

[01:05:28] There are too many words on the planet right now.

[01:05:32] There's too much blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

[01:05:35] And to some extent we've been conditioned that way, you know?

[01:05:38] But too many words, ain't no words on Gong Hits for Peace.

[01:05:42] It's sound.

[01:05:43] You are listening.

[01:05:45] So what I'm hopeful for is like if you want to know what I think about something,

[01:05:50] maybe I'll share it on OREGY Global or Active Peace.

[01:05:53] But if you just want to, I'm trying to reinforce deep listening as a spiritual practice.

[01:06:00] So most people think, I mean, I can share this with you because you'll dig it.

[01:06:04] Like, yeah, I want you to be peaceful and relaxed and all those other things.

[01:06:08] But the deeper thing I'm trying to do is force you to listen.

[01:06:17] Even so for the meditation, sound meditation I had last night

[01:06:20] for a lot of Active Peace practices, it's a community practice that we share across things.

[01:06:24] I was like, this may be upsetting for some of you,

[01:06:27] but we're not going to talk after this sound experience.

[01:06:32] I'm going to let you be with it.

[01:06:35] It's powerful.

[01:06:39] We need more spaces.

[01:06:41] Focus on listening.

[01:06:43] We got two ears and one mouth for a reason.

[01:06:45] And most of us...

[01:06:46] So my grandfather always said, like use them in proportion.

[01:06:50] Well, we'll be listing all of these places where you can find Reggie in the show notes.

[01:06:57] If you are a man of color, please, please find Reggie

[01:07:02] and talk to him about his Kripalu retreats that he leads.

[01:07:05] They're powerful.

[01:07:06] They are groundbreaking in the world of those wellness institutions.

[01:07:13] And it's really incredible and inspiring to see you just unapologetically coming in

[01:07:19] and offering and bringing this to the world.

[01:07:25] And what else?

[01:07:26] What else do you want to share and have people find you before we wrap it up?

[01:07:30] Activepeaceyoga.com.

[01:07:32] So I'm easy to spot, but hard to catch.

[01:07:36] You know what I mean?

[01:07:37] Because it's an election season and I'm teacher and operative and strategist,

[01:07:44] the force of my energy is trying to keep fascism from invading the United States.

[01:07:51] However, I do pop up teach.

[01:07:54] And the other thing I think is important when we talk about the sickness and wellness industry,

[01:07:57] but before we fade out is that I got a different approach than most.

[01:08:01] If you don't show up, great.

[01:08:03] If you show up, great.

[01:08:04] I'm not going to beg you to come to my shit.

[01:08:06] My shit is dope.

[01:08:08] I can vouch for him.

[01:08:10] Show up.

[01:08:11] People are like, I'm sorry I missed you.

[01:08:13] So if you feel the need to say that to make you feel better, that's cool.

[01:08:16] But the spirit has put me in these places and people be showing up.

[01:08:21] And if it's not you, and the other thing too,

[01:08:24] like someone put, I'll have to forward it to you.

[01:08:27] Alexis forwarded me this thing about, hi, I'm a Libra and blah, blah, blah, blah.

[01:08:30] One of the things that was hilarious is like, I'm a Libra.

[01:08:34] I'm here to help you through something, not do it for you.

[01:08:38] I'll say that again.

[01:08:40] I'm here to help you, not do it for you.

[01:08:43] So as a teacher, I can't force you to make a commitment.

[01:08:47] And my lifestyle, my livelihood, the energy that is going through this body

[01:08:53] will not beg you to come to something.

[01:08:56] So I have to eat.

[01:08:59] No, but my yoga practice includes some teaching,

[01:09:04] but it also includes other things I'm good at.

[01:09:06] So if you're a teacher out there, hear this last word, teaching asana.

[01:09:10] That may be your bag, but you've got other skills and talents that you can use

[01:09:13] yoga discipline and energy towards to make your magic happen in this realm.

[01:09:17] And please do.

[01:09:19] And do it.

[01:09:20] Yeah.

[01:09:21] That doesn't mean don't teach asana.

[01:09:24] It means that it doesn't have to be your only thing.

[01:09:27] There are other ways that you can express your creativity

[01:09:30] that are in keeping with yoga discipline,

[01:09:32] that in this fertile time we need those seeds to sprout.

[01:09:37] So activepeaceyoga.com, add longhitsforpeace.com on Instagram,

[01:09:44] oregiglobal on Instagram.

[01:09:46] If you look up YouTube, up on Google, you say Reggie and yoga.

[01:09:51] It'll be me doing something.

[01:09:54] I am so grateful for you coming to plant some seeds with us here today

[01:09:59] in this conversation.

[01:10:01] I've been, I'm like, I got to connect with her, man.

[01:10:04] Yes, this is divinely timed.

[01:10:06] The last question I ask every guest is,

[01:10:08] give me one thing that you are just like very specifically grateful for

[01:10:13] that's happened to you in the last 24 hours.

[01:10:16] I got to share my grandfather's story about black history

[01:10:20] in front of Nancy Pelosi and other activists.

[01:10:22] That's incredible.

[01:10:24] To be present to finding the letter,

[01:10:28] sharing the letter at the start of black history.

[01:10:31] So February 1st is sacred to me.

[01:10:33] Like I quit my last job on February 1st

[01:10:35] because I was being treated like the help.

[01:10:37] So like it's a day of empowerment.

[01:10:39] So for the full circle to be, I left politics on February 1st, 2021.

[01:10:45] And I essentially reemerged on February 1st, 2024,

[01:10:49] speaking my grandmother's grandfather's history

[01:10:52] to the speaker of the house, former speaker of the house.

[01:10:55] Like that's just all the things that's like,

[01:11:00] you see me?

[01:11:02] Do you make goosebumps from here?

[01:11:04] Yeah, right, right.

[01:11:05] So grateful, grateful and ecstatic.

[01:11:08] I'm just kind of like, I guess I must be doing something right.

[01:11:11] You are, you are, you are, you are, you are.

[01:11:16] Well thank you again for your time, your energy, your sound, your vibration, sir.

[01:11:22] Please keep pouring it on foot on the gas.

[01:11:26] We are blessed.

[01:11:28] You are truly a universal gift in this lifetime.

[01:11:31] So thank you.

[01:11:35] Thank you so much for tuning into another episode of the Make One Day Happen podcast.

[01:11:39] I get it, bandwidth can feel scarce, distractions can be abundant.

[01:11:42] So the fact that you made it this far in the episode truly means the world to me

[01:11:45] and I honor you for making some space for yourself.

[01:11:48] If this episode resonated with you in some way, please share it with a friend.

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[01:11:55] and helps us get into the ears of more folks who need it.

[01:11:58] Connect with me on Instagram, at Make One Day Happen,

[01:12:00] and let me know how this episode landed for you.

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[01:12:05] and stories of what you're taking away in order to create a true shift

[01:12:08] in your energy, mindset and leadership.

[01:12:10] Until next time, my friend.

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