Julian Ho Podcast: Recent Episodes
Julian Ho
Welcome to the Julian Ho Podcast, where I share unconventional ideas and insights on health, wellness, and fitness through interviews, featured shows, and audio recordings. I enjoy revealing my personal journey through life, all in hopes to better connect with others, and deepen my curious and introspective nature.
Can you believe this is my first ever interview with my twin brother??? In part 1, we get the ball rolling with introduction and context setting, then naturally land on the theme of 'identity', which anchors our conversation. It felt pretty cool interviewing Nathan, because we weren't just normally conversing, we were cognizant of an audience and theme, which hopefully came across like less ranting and just listening to two brothers talk. The purpose of this interview was originally set to discuss new fatherhood, but is growing to become much more holistic and wide-ranging, kind of like a BTS of the Twin Life. Stay tuned for Part 2!
BEI VITA Core team members Julian (fitness and wellness coach), Nathan (business expert), and Morgan (mental health lecturer) gather over the 2021 winter holidays to roundtable their thoughts on wellness in 2021. A great ‘fly on the wall’ listen to 3 leaders in their field, brain jamming, sharing, and enjoying quality time together.
@rory.ella.bray and I @julianho.ca chat about nutrition … but more about the psycho-socio-emotional side of nutrition and our relationship with food. We chat about how food impacts the culture of fitness, the negatives of diet culture, and tips for intuitive eating (a modern paradigm that can help with building a healthy relationship with food).
On this episode, @dustinpym and I, @julianho.ca chatted about mental fitness in the @sweatandtonic recording space. This conversation was spawned by a recent newsletter put out by Fitt Insider. It wrote about how mental health is now mainstream, and that in the pursuit of high performance, mastering the mental muscle has become yet another facet of health to optimize. Evidently, the business of mental health and mental fitness are trending focal points for investors, but at the frontline level, how are they being managed, treated, supported, and invested in by professionals/ practitioners for their participants/patients? The numbers showcase a lot, but often times, reports don't provide the whole picture, just like how stats and metrics can't provide us the whole picture of our health and fitness. Listen in on Dustin and Julian's conversation about their frontline work with mental fitness.
I noticed that my buddy Dustin Pym was on another level this morning, so I decided to hit record. Dustin chats freely about the ‘awareness of mastery’ and then flows into how he uses rap and hip hop music as education for life. Some great little nuggets from two guys just having a great conversation.
In this episode Julian and Dustin chat about the mindset of "Work in Progress" and how it helps them to stay humble, but also to keep on keeping on during tough times. The notion that we are all works in progress balances the extremes of too much ego and not enough ego. By acknowledging that we are works in progress even at the "top", is a way to keep the ego in check, it also reminds us that the work-in-progress mindset is a silver lining when we hit rock bottom, and to be kind to ourselves on the journey of growth and development.
This episode with @julianho.ca and @dustinpym is an unpacking of stress. They talk about how they cope, manage, mitigate stressful situations when they come, when they're in the stress, and what they do after they subside. Hear about common stressors in class and how Julian and Dustin offer help to their students.
This podcast is about the wellness side of fitness, talking about those unsaid matters that matter more than we know, especially how they impact our performance in class (and beyond). Shout outs go to @sweatandtonic for supporting our efforts which in turn support you the listener!
My pal @dustinpym and I @julianho.ca kickoff season 3 of our @sweatandtonic S&T Show (which is all about the wellness side of fitness), with a conversation about things that bring about discomfort and disconnection. We discuss common issues and not-so-common issues that arise in the mind at a fitness class, and share ideas on how to accept the discomfort and disconnection, as a necessary part of the process.
A reading of my newsletter article that shares my current integration process from a life changing trip to Costa Rica and back to the life I have in Toronto. To read the article and see the photos, visit www.julianho.ca and subscribe to my monthly newsletter.
2.0 is a people-platform for key-opinion leaders and subject matter experts to share what’s in their head through their hearts. The boutique experience enables an intimate and interactive ambiance. The safe space allows people from all walks of life to be authentic, creative, and original. The tone therefore encourages immersive intra/interpersonal connections. Our presenters voluntarily share their innovations, stories, and struggles as a display of their gratefulness and devotion to creating positive social innovation and impact.
Presentations can range from lecture, facilitation, Q&A, innovation share, show and tell, movement demonstration, group discussion, experiential learning, hands on workshop.
This April Mindshare was comprised of 4 presentations:
David Powell - Community's Heartbeat
Elizabeth Couse - Celebrating Diversity & the strength of Vulnerability
Nikhol Rei - The Spirit of Community
Jordan Leonard - A Speaker Panel on Showing Up & Cultivating Community with Intention
Thank you to our venue host Caribeans Coffee and Chocolate, our friends and staff at La Ruka Hostel, and to El Puente The Bridge, a charity that directly funds initiatives that help indigenous communities in need.
The Mindshare is a 'boutique Ted Talks', a conscious networking event that I originally designed for the Toronto fitness industry 5 years ago, but it spread to various industries through changemakers within them. What makes it special is the curation/facilitation method, the diversity of talent, and our altruistic spirit (we donate all event proceeds to charity).
We ended up raising enough funds to provide an Indigenous community called the Bri Bri, enough soccer balls ⚽️ and equipment for their brand new youth soccer league!!!! Thanks to @elpuentethebridge for deploying our efforts towards such a fitting and uplifting endeavour 🙏👊⚡️(the sport of soccer has gotten me through so much in life!)
This is ‘the work’.
Touching lives.
Change making.
Purpose embodied.
Applied social permaculture.
Our higher calling.
Bringing people together.
Bridging the gap.
Leading from the heart.
Learning for the soul.
Sharing stories and ideas.
Quality time well spent.
The Mindshare is a 'boutique Ted Talks', a conscious networking event that I originally designed for the Toronto fitness industry 5 years ago, but it spread to various industries through changemakers within them. What makes it special is the curation/facilitation method, the diversity of talent, and our altruistic spirit (we donate all event proceeds to charity).
I’ve always dreamed of taking @2.0toronto experiences like the Mindshare, internationally ... with the help of the amazing team at @larukahostel ... the incredibly talented leaders in Puerto Viejo ... and of course divine timing and alignment of the universe, we did just that. The success of the Mindshare represents much more than I can explain with words. This one was truly a gamechanger in my life. You know that feeling when you do something that feels so right on so many levels, when so many other things are unknown and uncertain ... I guess that’s how I’d explain it. With so much love, kindness, compassion, and flow, let us continue to 1. Show up, 2. follow up, and 3. fill up (your cup). May the force be with us all.
Huge thanks goes out to the speakers:
@danniedakini
Derek Quiros
@inesitazuriaga
@thealphadad
@elizabethcouse_
@dexlew
Andre Nova
Rozanne Dioso-Lopez
@thekonductor
Our supporters:
@larukahostel
@eatfruitfully
@juju_juicyjungle
THE PANELIST PRESENTATION YOU NEVER SAW OR HEARD
This event was one of the most humbling, confusing, embarrassing, yet enlightening of my life. It was an invitation to speak at Canfitpro’s International Conference in 2018. I gathered my most talented friends from the 2.0 community to speak with me as a panelist on Industry Innovation with a sub theme of time and space. I brought together these local leading experts in technology, life science, entertainment, education, and entrepreneurship to speak their minds. It doubled as a demonstration as much as it was a presentation, showcasing the need to cross-pollinate with other industries in order to grow beyond our inner circle of fitness. Unfortunately, the scheduling and promotion gods were not on our side that day. We had a very disappointing turnout of 5, less than the number of presenters. It hurt. But it was eye-opening at the same time. My peers also felt what I felt. The let down. The waste of time. The false promise. But miraculously, our bond, and their trust in me and this thing we called ‘2.0’ helped us get through it, together. It truly felt like we were all willing to go down on a sinking ship together. And that was what kept us going. Some would argue this was just an awesome hangout session of incredible humans doing what they love without the need for external validation. But I believe this gem was meant for another medium for another time perhaps in a different dimension. Hope you take the time to listen to this incredible podcast.
Thanks to Cecily Milne, William Greenblatt, Nsuani Baffoe, Paluna Santamaria, Tyler Sammy, and Lauren Howe.
Cary Chittley @caryphysio and I discuss all things self care, restoration, and injury prevention. We definitely go next level on certain topics but we keep to our discussion theme quite spot on. Many gems to be had in this episode, so be sure to listen all the way to the end. Visit www.caryphysio.ca for more details on how to get treated by the best in the business.
Nicole Divell @womanofthesoul and I discuss all things mind-body-soul connection. This episode has a continuous flow of golden nugget takeaways that come from personal experiences, expertise, and evidence-based research. We reviewed our month of collaborative work and the mindset coaching theories/strategies we deployed to our students during our RUN LAB workouts at Riverdale Park, in downtown Toronto.
Song created April 2020.
Inspired to create this piece by this video by Mark from pianobreaks.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAUcTepSJww&t=3s
Randi-Mae is a Mindfulness and Self-Care Instructor, Counselor, Author, Workplace Wellness Consultant & motivational public speaker. Randi-Mae Stanford-Leibold is an author, mindfulness facilitator and a professional speaker. She focuses on wellness in the workplace, compassion, self-care and personal development.
Questions:
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Why the head? Tell us about your background in mindfulness, meditation, neuroscience, and mental health.
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What has your heart? Tell us about your passions, hobbies, lifestyle & leisure activities.
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What do you have your hands in right now? Tell us about your current projects and initiatives.
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What soothes your soul? Tell us about your routines, rituals, habits that keep you high functioning for your family, friends, clients.
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How has your spirit kept on with COVID 19, Black Lives Matter, and all the uncertainty of 2020.
**Podcast Highlights:
-** Her attempted suicide aided brought her to Mindfulness practice.
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Her lost of a supervisor to suicide sparked work on grief in the workplace.
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Self-experience AND Self-education are keys to counseling, teaching, coaching, and being a leader
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Taichi practice became a go-to
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Accelerator program outfitted her with the tools/skills/business acumen to grow beyond her capabilities
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"Entrepreneurship is a spiritual journey "
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Your foundation is created by life building you up and breaking you down
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When you want to know if something is right, you have to feel it - ask yourself "did I get goosebumps yet?"
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"Goosebumps is life saying yes". Goosebumps is the antenna to our union with life and the universe, perhaps our cosmic intuition.
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Having a counsellor allows you the time and space to dedicate truly and purely to self reflection and change
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(As leaders) we have the tools, but we too need a sounding board and mirrors, it allows us to remember that we are humans that need support", "we lead but need to be led, we too need to be held."
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What this world needs is collective action to lift each other up, lift our collective consciousness, engage, check in, trusting and embracing in the now."
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When troubled on unsure, remind yourself of the long lineage and ancestry that has also gone through their fair share of trials and tribulations.
Resources:
Wellnest - Psychotherapy
UofT Race & Healing Program with Aina-Nia Ayo’dele Grant, Allison Hill, Yami Msosa, and Randi-Mae Stanford-Leibold
Mindwell U - Corporate Mindfulness, Meditation & Mental Health Training
The meditations are from Thich Naht Hanh's book 'Fear'. Julian has recorded 6 original audios (including this Mantra excerpt) and songs to accompany, as a way to help listeners with mindfulness practice. Use this playlist to weather the storm, balance the mind, and realign the inner compass.
The meditations are from Thich Naht Hanh's book 'Fear'. Julian has recorded 6 original audios (including this Mantra excerpt) and songs to accompany, as a way to help listeners with mindfulness practice. Use this playlist to weather the storm, balance the mind, and realign the inner compass.
The meditations are from Thich Naht Hanh's book 'Fear'. Julian has recorded 6 original audios (including this Mantra excerpt) and songs to accompany, as a way to help listeners with mindfulness practice. Use this playlist to weather the storm, balance the mind, and realign the inner compass.
The meditation excerpts are from Thich Naht Hanh's book 'Fear'. Julian has recorded 6 original audios (including this Mantra excerpt) and songs to accompany, as a way to help listeners with mindfulness practice. Use this playlist to weather the storm, balance the mind, and realign the inner compass.
The Mindfulness meditations are excertps from Thich Naht Hanh's book 'Fear'. I have curated 4 original audios (including this introduction excerpt) and songs to accompany, as a way to help listeners with mindfulness practice. Use this playlist to weather the storm, balance the mind, and realign the inner compass.
This is a guided body scan meditation adapted from Thich Naht Hanh's book called Fear. "Mindful" is a featured playlist on S&T's audio wellness experience called Guided. Julian has curated 4 original audios (including this Body Scan) and songs to accompany, as a way to help listeners with mindfulness practice. Use this playlist to weather the storm, balance the mind, and realign the inner compass.
"Getting Centered" is a featured playlist on S&T's audio wellness experience called Guided. Angela Morley has curated 3 original audios and songs to accompany, to deepen your ability to get centered in times of stress, change, and uncertainty. This track is a guided Yoga Sun Salutation, which is a sequence of poses and stretches.
Angela Morley's reading of Thich Naht Hanh's 'Washing the Dishes' is a part of her playlist, "Getting Centered". A playlist on S&T's Guided audio wellness experience.
A Tadasana Meditation for getting centered. A track in Angela Morley's curated playlist, on S&T Guided, an audio wellness experience.
Guided - Welcome to Julian's "Goodmorning" series - curated to enhance your morning routine. This track is the box breath to help with balance, stability, and focus.
This is a 10 mantra audio to inspire your day. Whether you have a big deadline, game, presentation, or a normal day ahead of you, use this audio as a way to bring perspective and focus to the important things in life.
S&T Guided - welcome to Julian Ho's "Goodmorning" audio wellness experience. This is a 10 minute Gratitude Meditation.
This meditation is an adaptation of Dr. Kathi Kemper’s Gratitude Meditation from the Ohio State University’s Center for Integrative Health and Wellness. By using the imagery of heart-centered gratitude, we can achieve a positive mood, hope, and resilience. As we experience positive emotions such as gratitude, loving-kindness, and compassion, our awareness broadens and our creativity and problem-solving capacities grow and expand. As a result we become more effective in whatever we choose to do.
S&T Guided - A part of Julian Ho's "Goodnight" audio wellness experience. A Guided Body Scan Meditation to help become mindful, relaxed, and appreciative of the body.
S&T Guided - A part of Julian Ho's "Goodnight" audio wellness experience. A 5:00 Guided Breath to fall into deep relaxation.
S&T Guided - A part of Julian Ho's "Goodnight" audio wellness experience. A short 3:00 Tuza Meditation to help slow down and relax.
An interview that dives deep into worlds I've never thought to explore. From Vagal nerve tone to moldy coffee to mental health traumas to Radical Self-Acceptance, Cassandra Hope is a neo-alchemist of expertise that rides the waves of change so elegantly and so relevant to the times. Her diverse background as a mindset coach, holistic nutritionist, and personal trainer has created a much needed scope of practice to many. Not only was I completely engaged and asking questions for my own benefit, it was such a pleasure seeing my dear friend in her professional element.
In this episode, I was on a mission to go deep with Hima Batavia on the topic of human connection. As co-founder and past director of @Reset, a self-discovery camp for adults, and now Director of Creative Placemaking Lab for @Artscape Toronto, suffice it to say, curating human connection is her jam. My work with @2.0Toronto has brought us together indirectly in that we live and breathe the art and science of connection. We have a shared skill and desire to cultivate belongingness, because we truly understand how important it is. In a time when in-person connection and community gathering is not allowed, how do we reimagine community forming? How do we recreate intimacy with technology? How can we shift and evolve as humans with new rules and norms around touch and togetherness? These are all fundamental questions we don't know the answers to, but aim to investigate further with curiosity and good spirits.
Hope you enjoy this great conversation.
In this short 10 minute reading, I go back in time to mine for wisdom that serves this futuristic time of uncertainty. As all future is truly uncertain, the COVID 19 disruption has gone so far to turn the present into an uncertain and unprecedented curse for many. With a shove rather than a nudge from time, the future has been thrust upon us to act with all we've got to turn the ever disconnecting world into one that's more discerning. Do we have what it takes? Can we pull it off together? Hopefully this cure to uncertainty shifts the tone to our spirits, and enables us to go about today with more hope and vitality for tomorrow.
Baillie Thornhill is a business and branding consultant, Yoga Instructor, past key leader with Lululemon, and perspective shifter when it comes to the elephant in the room of $$$. We chat entrepreneurship strategies, tips for better leadership, working with family, and bring a lightness and realness to the topic.
We dive into Robbie’s colourful life in business and entrepreneurship but also travel the dark side of his journey with addiction, depression, and ADHD. Robbie shares life learnings and practical strategies to cope with COVID 19, and new ways of perceiving what COVID is doing to us and for us. An enlightening insider to a life I’ll never live but live to share and learn from.
We expect a lot of ourselves. We have personal standards to uphold, professional engagements to deliver upon, and a life purpose to fuel. Unfortunately, our expectations are often unrealistic, which can cause a lot of stress and self-criticism—so it’s important to manage them well. Morgan Rosenberg, a mental health lecturer at the Schulich School of Medicine, Founder and CEO of Resili app for mental health, and one of the most down to earth educational/entrepreneurial minds that I know, helps us frame, tolerate, accept, and solve for these difficult times we're all facing. I came away with a better understanding of my own expectations and self-criticisms, and how to better manage them for the short and long term.
Topics covered:
- Navigating uncertainty
- Vulnerability and validation
- Taming the monkey mind with Mindfulness
- Recalibrating expectations and trust
- The Pros of uncertainty
For more information about Morgan, check out https://ca.linkedin.com/in/morganrosenberg
To connect with the collaborative work Morgan and I are doing together, check out https://www.beivita.com/
Was a pleasure interviewing Aisling as she is one of the brightest and most intellectual professionals I’ve come across. She always has something extra to say which you can never say no to because you know it’s always going to be yet another wonderful golden nugget. In this episode, we dive into behavioural changes needed to adapt optimally to COVID 19 and all its challenges. Seeing this as an opportunity to reset, reimagine, and reinvent is where we must go, and this episode definitely gets us off to a great start. Enjoy.
In this episode, Rory and I explore the nostalgia of Shel Silverstein poetry, tingles and giggles with book sounds, and fun relaxing memories of childhood. Use this for bedtime, sleep aid, and relaxation. Hope you enjoy this episode as much as we enjoyed recording it :)
Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response. A pleasant form of paresthesia experienced as tingling, warm chills, numbness, goosebumps, and deep sense of relaxation. Auditory-tactile synesthesia is another comparative phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory pathway leads to involuntary experiences in a secondary pathway. For example, this is when a specific word or sound creates a sensation in the skin without being touched. In this inaugural episode, Rory and I experiment with whispering childhood memories to each other, crinkle and tapping sounds, mouth sounds, all to elicit an ASMR for listeners. We had a lot of fun in this episode and hope it brings listeners a delight of giggles and tingles to the evening bedtime routine. Enjoy!
In this audio blog, I dive into the psychological and behavioural factors that help us frame our recovery protocols to ultimately help us become more adaptable and high functioning. I use pop culture references to make lessons relevant. I’d recommend listening to this podcast, and reading the blog found at www.julianho.ca/blog titled High Performance Living Solutions - Part 2/5
“Who can I love becoming?” ... this question grounds me and blows my mind every time I sit with it. It has spawned years of study with the CHEK Institute of Holistic Lifestyle Coaching, and has helped me curate a life full of creativity, curiosity, and achievement. Here are 10 questions that I’ve tweaked from Paul Chek’s original 10 questions, that I use with my executive clientele. Take the time to pause the audio to answer the questions as this audio can be optimized when actively engaging. Find more in my blog section at www.julianho.ca
As Featured in the award winning fitness and lifestyle blog Furthermore, by Equinox Fitness Clubs. This article shares the 4 Japanese philosophies I use help with my mindset for ultra endurance racing: Mushin, Shoshin, Fudoshin, Zanshin.
A co-created article about a mindset theory that flips the negative of being OFF into positive virtues we can all understand and implement in our everyday lives. This article was a collaboration between two high performance athletes that have an affinity for coaching and self-growth. Together, an Ultramarathon champion and Canadian Olympian share wisdom from the Ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus, and modernize his law of opposites to a relatable 6 principles.
This episode shares deeply impactful lessons learned from quotes and life experiences from 2019 that I will bring into 2020.
Here are some lessons learned from 2018 to keep you motivated to exercise and be healthy and vital in your everyday.
Andrew Parr, world class coach and professional athlete unpacked the use of sport psychology for stress and peak performance through guided activities and group work. This audio contains many golden nugget sound bytes from this fantastic workshop held at Sweat and Tonic.