Unconventional Life – Podcast, Blog, Live Events

Author: Jules Schroeder

Ep.169 How to Rise Up to Every Moment, With Yogi, Chelsey Korus
Chelsey Korus is a trailblazer and is a highly regarded yoga teacher and philosopher. She has been teaching yoga since the age of 15 and has been an avid life long learner in numerous movement practices, including Anusara, Power Vinyasa, Ashtanga, Acro, as well as martial arts, free form dance, and ballet. Along with an exceptional depth of practice, Chelsey is a triple major with degrees in Dance, Theater, and Vocal Performance.

A decade of learning and teaching around the world has led her to design, AWAKE, a “total package lifestyle” around SOUL ☀︎ SPIRIT ☀︎ ENVIRONMENT.

“The concept of AWAKE is a driving force in my life… I don’t want to live another second asleep. These are the practices I’ve designed to help people awaken to their moment, and have the tools to step into their wholeness.”

The soul is the deep dive into who you really are, into your soul gifts and what you can share with the world.  This connection to yourself can be cultivated in numerous ways but for Chelsey, the deepest is through a Traditional Yoga and Meditation practice. “When you commit to arriving on the mat, every single day, and observing what is within there is a profound shift that emerges from your being.” From this zoomed out perspective and witnessing your noticing, you gain new insights and ideas and are guided to your best next steps. It’s important to remember that this knowledge doesn’t come from an outside source, this inner knowing comes from your soul and everyone has access to this intuition.

“ There is a river that is always rushing with creativity and generative ideas, we get removed and forget that it’s there and we need to get into the cold water to be refreshed and remember what is within.”

Another way that you can tune into this rhythm of inner knowing is through a journaling practice called Morning Pages – write three freeflow pages, first thing when you wake up. This uncensored way of journaling quiets the mind and allows your subconscious to come through. When you really let go and stop judging what comes out, you will be amazed how many insights will appear on your page.

Spirit is your connection to something bigger than yourself and a sense that you belong to something bigger Eg. Acro Yoga, groups or socials. A community is a place that we can receive acknowledgment, and reflection from our peers. We need people around us that say “Hey, I see you, do you know where you have been and where you are now?! You’re doing an amazing job” this feedback encourages us to keep going and shines a brighter light on our gifts because the truth is that our worst critic is usually ourselves.

“We all have this really cool spot to fill in the web of life that is our own but this web is interconnected.”

You might be wondering how to get involved in a community, where do you start? Write down 3 or 4 areas of interest, then search for events or groups on Facebook or Meet Up’s that match your interests. If you can’t find anything that resonates I encourage you to start the community or group up yourself! Guaranteed that other people share similar interests as you.

The part that you can change and control is your Environment. Everything in your life is an accumulation of the choices you make and the people you surround yourself with. It’s up to you to set healthy boundaries, make choices that support your growth and find mentors that inspire and encourage you to rise up.

Chelsey is a big nature lover and hosts beach and river clean up’s at many of the festivals she teaches at. She has also created the earth challenge #awakeafearthchallenge, which supports plastic-free living and caring for the Ocean.

“We affect each other- our thoughts, words, and actions really matter, we are creating a future for other generations.”

These three pillars are the framework for AWAKE but sometimes life doesn’t flow exactly as planned or in our desired direction.

We asked Chelsey how she keeps positive and grounded when life serves a crap cupcake or when the shitake hits the pan…
- Be in nature, be mesmerized by her beauty and resilience, because you too have those same qualities.
- Take your time to experience grief. See grief as a teacher, welcome grief in to provide you with clarity so you can know and trust your definite “yes” and “no”.
- Be courageous and step out into the wild night and the unknown.
- You don’t have to go through anything alone, surround yourself with a community or someone that can hold space for you and listen.
- Have compassion for yourself. See and hear the voices that are speaking- the future self that protects, the teenager that is rebellious, the small 6-year-old self that is fearful, hear all these voices speaking and witness them. The more you have this relationship to yourself from a compassionate place you can say “ I know where that’s coming from but that thought is too small for me, I’m not subscribing to that idea anymore. I’m going to go bigger, I’m going to play bigger.”
- It’s only hard right now and it’s going to get easier cus life doesn’t get easier, you get stronger.
Chelsey’s knowledge and perspective on life are truly beautiful. No matter if you are experiencing grief or already walking the path, she shares insightful tips on how you can continue to refine and rise up to your greatest self.

If you would like to meet Chelsey and experience her infectious joy you can join one of her adventures here! She is teaching at the Wanderlust 108 events and has some spectacular retreats coming up in Greece, Wyoming, and Bali. For a daily dose of inspiration, you can follow her on Instagram.

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April 8, 2019
EP: 168 How to Play Full Out, Take Risks and Reap Rewards with High Performance Coach, David Wood

At the peak of his business, David had just released his book, Get Paid For Who You Are, and was burnt out, tired, and depressed. During this stressful time, he asked himself what he’d do if he had six months to live. The conclusion was to spend more time in Bali, which would ultimately shift the course of his life as he sold everything, subleased a Balinese villa, and resigned from the Transformational Leadership Council.

Only too soon, David had to leave the country after issues with housing surfaced. And once again he found himself wondering what would be next. Should he go back to coaching? Would he build another business? What mattered to him now?

Here are 3 lessons from David’s leap of faith:

Doubt is Part of the Process, Embrace it. David wants you to know that it’s ok to have doubts when you don’t know how life is going to look. In fact, he shares it’s a natural function of the brain to have doubts and to want to control outcomes when we’re exploring unknown territory. It’s less about how much doubt you will or won’t feel and more about how you take action when those doubts are distracting you from your potential.

If you’re in a downward spiral of doubt and fear, there’s likely a voice inside of you that really wants to know the answers to feel safe and secure. There’s nothing wrong with this aspect of you. It’s actually a process that sometimes serves a magnificent function — protecting you from danger. But sometimes that function works overtime and can distract you from delivering your best. How you go about changing your day will vary from person to person, but the best you can do is allow yourself the space to not know the answers and keep moving and grooving.

Have Faith in Your Risk Taking. According to David, it takes some simple faith to keep taking risks, especially when it comes to business. He sees this pattern in many where life seems to get harder before it gets easier, almost as if it’s testing you through the dips. It takes faith to keep putting in the time while seeing little return but as you stay focused others will likely start to see that you’re serious about what you’re up to.

As you go through the ups and downs, you can switch up your strategy and refine your process, but keep taking consistent action. While David suggests this mindset, he also recommends continuously discerning whether or not your efforts are providing real value to people or if they need some reevaluating. Keep going to reap the rewards, and hopefully, when it rains it pours.

Share Your Solutions to Reinforce Relationships. Each iteration of David’s career has seemingly angled him closer to what really lights him up while continuing to be the best allocation of his time, energy and talent. When David first got started, he created a newsletter that ultimately attracted a high performing audience of 150,000. This information sharing model created the foundation that set him up to easily share free solutions, while simultaneously building a network of followers that had a solid sense of who he was.

Building rapport with your clientele is helpful in gaining trust and interest in your offerings. Whether it’s a consistent stream of articles, podcasts, or other forms of content, providing your audience with value will sow seeds that you can reap the benefits from.

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Amelia Broughton is a relational facilitator, writer, and purveyor of connection, pioneering a more connected, communication-savvy, and emotionally intelligent planet. She has facilitated Authentic Relating and Relational Leadership in a 9-month training named T3 (Train the Trainer), in workshops with companies such as Authentic World, Authentic Revolution, and Authentic Relating Training International, around the world in communities such as Unconventional Life and Momentom Collective, and in the past year has facilitated monthly events at Archipelago Clubs in Denver, CO.

Amelia’s writing has been featured on mindbodygreen, in Conscious Lifestyle Magazine, Boulder Lifestyle Magazine, and The C3 Method. An active Unconventional Life member, Amelia consistently contributes her writing.

April 1, 2019
EP: 167 Unlocking and Harnessing Your Creative Potential- With musician, David Block of The Human Experience and Gone, Gone Beyond
So how does David unlock and harness the creativity required to make over 100 tracks? Here at 5 tips to supercharge your creativity.

Any Weakness can Become a Strength. For David, his success in his musical career required constant determination and deep self-inquiry. For 13 years of his life, he was medicated due to having displayed qualities of a behavioral disorder. Coping with his overactive brain, mixed with medications was a difficult time of his life, he has now learned how to utilize and leverage this perceived weakness into an expression of art.

Any weakness can be an overwhelming strength. In fact, one’s weaknesses are often the most powerful untapped strengths but have been seen with a diminishing perspective. What perceived weakness could you shine a light on in your life, and like David, use to your advantage?

Balance Between Thought and Flow. David calls it “Equanimity Between the Mind and No Mind” which essentially means, “If you have no mind then you have super nebulous ideas that aren’t functional or accessible.” Practicing mediums such as “meditation, making love, dancing” allows one to get out of the head but still stay grounded in the body.

The mind has to be kept sharp and in tune. If you want to be able to play instruments you have to dedicate time to practice. Once you “train the faculty to do the things that you want them to do”, you can let go, explore and find the balance between mind and no mind.

Once these two elements are brought into harmony, you become the channel for the music to flow through freely.

Creative Exploration. Creativity and art have no borders, he says. Most of the time he has no set direction on where he is going but is simply exploring, discovering new pathways and trying on different mediums that could be incorporated.

When was the last time you experienced unfiltered exploration? Do you believe that creativity is a prerequisite for exploration? The “Do Something Principle” states that we just need to start and inspiration will be stimulated.

Practice Self- Inquiry. David is an avid practitioner of Vipassana meditation, which is the practice of observing things exactly as they are, ever-changing and flowing moment to moment. The practice of Vipassana helps him to remain equanimous throughout life’s inevitable shifts while remaining centered and focused. David has found that “Making art has been parallel with meditation.”

He encourages us to “be vulnerable and authentic and dive deep to excavate the emotions that are in your body to alchemize them into real art.”

When you listen to a sad song, how do you feel? Sure, there is emotion, but would you label it as “negative” or “positive”? This sadness allows you to feel deeply, to open into your full spectrum of emotions. Artists and composers who create art that instills this emotion often create it when they are in a similar state. Through sadness and anger, we are able to open up into a spectrum of emotion that is not always available and transmute that emotion into art.

Constant Evolution. His manifestation board says “I collaborate with artists and creators that push my boundaries.” He believes there is no easy route and constant evolution is necessary.

Problems are happily neverending, and finding problems that you enjoy solving is what keeps the cycle of advancement going. Life never stops and waits for you to catch up, you just get better at utilizing your skillset and evolving.

“My music is parallel with my spiritual journey and therefore people connect with it in a really deep way.”

David received a message from a friend sharing a recent experience. She was having a panic attack and even considered taking her own life… suddenly she had the instinct to play his music and found herself calming down.

Listening to music releases a chemical in our brains called dopamine, it changes our cell structure and our cells can be healed when harmonized with sound. Being very aware of the shifts music has on the human body, lyrics in David’s newest project Gone, Gone Beyond such as “It all comes down to us”, “you can’t go wrong” and “ain’t givin’ up on love” are catalysts to heal the human race.

Receiving impact of how music aided someone in a drastic time gave David the fuel to keep making music, to continue to meditate and to dive deeper into himself so that he can be a vessel for art to be expressed.
- The Newest album by Gone Gone Beyond will be released on March 29th, 2019
- You can find His music on SoundCloud, Spotify, Amazon, Bandcamp & Apple Music
- Follow The Human Experience on Instagram or Facebook
- Follow Gone, Gone Beyond on Instagram or Facebook
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March 25, 2019
How To Filter The Noise, Stay Focused, Follow Through and Find Fulfillment, With Poet, Yung Pueblo.

After scrolling through Diego Perez’s Instagram account (@yung_pueblo) I’m struck by how seemingly simple yet profound his words are. Each swipe past black-and-white content square surprisingly soothed my mind and drew me deeper into my own peace and patience. His story reflects one of activism, self actualization and a fierce commitment to his own path. This impressive display of wisdom was by no means without trials and tribulations and is a testament of his honesty, courage, and path to healing.

Insights inspired by Yung Pueblo’s words

“Sometimes people are simply meant to teach you how to not act in the future” – yung pueblo

When Perez leaped into the unknown to begin his writing career many people thought he was crazy. He wasn’t making money, was being supported by his partner, and feeling very insecure about his decision at times. With very little results, he watched others gain success but kept focused on his meditation practice and writing. He knew he had to write about his discoveries as a meditator and saw how powerful his healing was as an active member of society. He believes that “you’re a much less harmful person to those around you” when you’re continuously turning inwards.

People may not understand your intentions at first and they may think you’ve lost your mind, but like Yung Pueblo, it is an act of courage to keep going despite all odds. When you meet others that are doing the unthinkable or seemingly impossible, lift them up, cheer them on, and see the magic in what is being provided by their journey. In this case, Perez’s dedication to his inner knowing evolved into an immensely successful pursuit.

“a hero is one who heals their own wounds and then shows others how to do the same” – yung pueblo

Born in Ecuador but primarily growing up in Boston, MA, Perez was an avid activist in his community. Over the course of his younger years, he joined groups of young people that were given serious power to design campaigns and learn how to organize and take action around the things that mattered to them. This supporting of one another’s vision seemingly wove itself into the fiber of Perez’s life and continued into his adult life when he began to meditate at the age of 24. He’d seen how powerful each individual was during these days of activism, but he’d also still felt the misery. To Perez meditation is a cultivation of internal happiness, which in turn betters society with a positive ripple effect. He began to realize how impactful his meditation practice was and chose writing as a medium to share with others what’s possible.

With so many different avenues to explore that bring release and relaxation today, it can be challenging to know which techniques to try. When Perez refers to being a hero, he sees supporting and encouraging one another to be happy, and ultimately more powerful, as a courageous feat. By finding your own way to healing and sharing with others, you are doing the work that’s so desperately needed in this day and age. In his commitment to sharing this wisdom, I’d say Yung Pueblo truly is a hero himself.

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Amelia Broughton is a relational facilitator, writer, and purveyor of connection, pioneering a more connected, communication-savvy, and emotionally intelligent planet. She has facilitated Authentic Relating and Relational Leadership in a 9-month training named T3 (Train the Trainer), in workshops with companies such as Authentic World, Authentic Revolution, and Authentic Relating Training International, around the world in communities such as Unconventional Life and Momentom Collective, and in the past year has facilitated monthly events at Archipelago Clubs in Denver, CO.

Amelia’s writing has been featured on mindbodygreen, in Conscious Lifestyle Magazine, Boulder Lifestyle Magazine, and The C3 Method. An active Unconventional Life member, Amelia consistently contributes her writing.

March 18, 2019
How to Radically Upgrade Your Travel Experience with Global Island Girl Founder, Florence Turiaf

“I live for my passions. I live for islands, showcasing their beauty, and making sure that we can upgrade the way we experience them around the world.”

Born and raised on the small French Caribbean island of Martinique, Flo exudes something she calls the Island Spirit. She sees the Island Spirit as having the desire to go after whatever fulfills you and brings you the most joy. When Flo moved to the USA at the age of 14, she began to realize that her home country was something special, enabling her to realize the unique identity she carried as an Islander.

If you’ve ever experienced the joy and rejuvenation that time on an island gifts, you’ve likely tasted the Island Spirit. Islands seem to have a way of creating a sense of ease and bliss, which is one of the many reasons they are such a popular destination spot. With Global Island Girl, Florence (Flo) prioritizes islands as they create such pleasure to so many around the world. Part of her mission is to create awareness about how we travel and the ways in which we interact with our planet.

Expand Your Perspective. Do Your Part. Make a Difference. Spreading the Island Spirit is a vital aspect of her persona, but she also desires for people to see the whole picture of the island life. After much experience, Flo speaks of the need for people to be aware of the ugly, neglected side of the island life.

Right after college, she was offered a scholarship to travel around the world to different islands. She would choose twelve non-sovereign territories to expand her knowledge of the ways of other Islanders. It was during this trip that she was attacked and robbed by two armed men.

This unexpected event begged the question, “what can push someone to go to this length of violence?” and concluded that desperation and need for basic necessity might be some of many driving factors in this instance. No matter how beautiful one perspective might be, it became her duty to share as many perspectives as possible – the good, the bad, and everything in between.

When you can bring your attention to more than just the beauty of your surroundings, you may notice that behind each and every stunning detail there is a particular flavor of care and consideration that sustains the environment. Whether it’s the exceptional hospitality you’re experiencing at your hotel or a pristine beach you’re relaxing on, something or someone is tending to it to keep it that way. Unfortunately, locals are often exploited and mistreated due to the need for work and corporate corruption.

Climate change is also notably shifting these environments, and many times tourists are not grasping the impact of their presence. With the influx of trash, pollution, and consumerism, there is a desperate need to balance the impact on the islands.   They are indeed some of the most vulnerable given the rising seas and natural catastrophes such as volcanoes, typhoons, etc.

By taking into account your individual impact, you are playing your part in making a difference. Speak to the locals and see what it’s like to live on the island. Ask them what you can do to support them and give back to the environment. If you’re going on an adventure, make sure to leave it better than you’ve found it. Pick up trash if you see it, and do your best to minimize your footprint. If there’s a choice between buying locally or from corporate chains, invest in the local economy. Your impact matters, your investment matters, and how you treat your surroundings does make a difference.

Flo is committed to creating experiences that are unlike any of your typical adventure or travel experiences. Check out her tips and tricks, and explore new ways of seeing the world. Every little step counts. Do your part and spread the word. Let’s discover and better this world together!

“I think the more we learn and more we connect, truly, the better humanity will be.”.

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Amelia Broughton is a relational facilitator, writer, and purveyor of connection, pioneering a more connected, communication-savvy, and emotionally intelligent planet. She has facilitated Authentic Relating and Relational Leadership in a 9-month training named T3 (Train the Trainer), in workshops with companies such as Authentic World, Authentic Revolution, and Authentic Relating Training International, around the world in communities such as Unconventional Life and Momentom Collective, and in the past year has facilitated monthly events at Archipelago Clubs in Denver, CO.

Amelia’s writing has been featured on mindbodygreen, in Conscious Lifestyle Magazine, Boulder Lifestyle Magazine, and The C3 Method.  An active Unconventional Life member, Amelia consistently contributes her writing.

March 14, 2019