45: What’s Happening on This Private Island in Belize (w/ Dr. Mara Kevan & Breyn Hibbs)

Well, here we are. I can’t- so I’m going to start just by saying how surreal this is. Maybe a few weeks ago, I had no idea I’d be here. And I love that. I brought my family here to this private island that you had invited me to, Pranamaya.

And, uh, this is already one of the neatest, most unique experiences I’ve had. Oh, bringing my kids, my wife here. We’re obviously gonna fill in the gaps of what Pranamaya is and who you guys are, but I just wanted to immediately start out with gratitude because, um, this is- I’m getting all these goosebumps. This is, um, yeah, it’s just surreal for me and it’s extremely inspiring. And so I feel like whatever this is is a start to something really grand.

Um, but to fill in the gaps, you know, Bree, Mara, thank you very much for your time. I appreciate that. Yeah, thank you for your time. Yeah, my pleasure. Yeah, look at this.

So the rest of the episode will just be us looking this way and enjoying the view. Put our feet up. Put our bare feet up. Yeah, I made sure to not wear my shoes. I love not wearing my shoes.

It’s fantastic. And that’s a very big part of this place is just the whole thing is no shoes. That’s it. You just come here. Grounding.

Well, we ground. It’s grounding. Absolutely. And watering, as we discussed. So this morning, uh, just to give context, we woke up at- what was it- 5:30 and went out and caught this amazing sunset between the moon and sun, right?

So what a special time that was. The, the moon was bigger than I’ve seen it in a long time in the day, and then the sun was rising. We were right in the middle, and it got really quiet out there. It was like 12 of us or something like that, and paddleboarding out here in Belize in this water. That was like a fantastic way to start this retreat.

And so, so kudos on that decision. Did you plan the moon and the sun? I did. I actually paid extra for those special effects. Yeah, I just wanted to note that.

That’s fantastic. We did not plan our retreat to be on the dates that coincide with the full moon. It has just been fortuitous that it has happened that this is the last super Full Moon of 2025. And it just happens that how this private island is situated that we can watch the Full Moon literally rise on the horizon in the east, and then set in the west as then the morning, the sun rises, and we can see that dichotomy of the two polars at the same time, which personally was a first for me this morning. I have never seen a full moon setting and a full sun rising.

Obviously it’s a full sun, we don’t get half suns, but that idea that you have a sun rising and a full moon setting, that they’re mirroring each other in the same moment, it’s magical. And like you said, we didn’t hear anything else. There’s no horns, there’s no cars, there’s no airplanes, there’s no jet skis, there’s no boats, there’s no blaring music. It is you immersed in nature. It really was.

And I’ll say, I didn’t even know that that was a thing that nature could do, that the moon and the sun, like, right- it was just, it was an interesting discovery. Um, but, um, before we dive too much into this, maybe we can lay some groundwork. Yes. On who we’re diving in with. Yeah.

Um, so maybe start with you, Bree, and walk us through a nutshell of how you are sitting there, and then I’ll do the same with you, Mara. I know that’s like a loaded question, but we have a lot that we can cover, and so let’s lay some groundwork and then play jazz over it. Okay, I like that. Okay, I love that. Um, well, I actually have said this to different people, particularly recently with, um, just my life unfolding in the way that it’s been unfolding over the last number of years, where the very tiny rural town that I was born in, Central Oregon.

From a logical perspective, it makes no sense that I’m sitting here in this room with the two of you. And, you know, it’s not a linear path, and there’s a lot of what I would call grace involved. Um, so yeah, born in rural Central Oregon and had a lot of huge aspirations from a pretty young age to understand things like the stars and how the universe works and why we’re alive and why we die. And I think was kind of, you know, I was a pretty curious child from early on. And so I got into philosophy and spirituality and studied religion and eventually health and wellness, you know, as a student.

And as in those days, it was like, you know, I was like so serious about what I was doing. And looking back, I like really had no idea what I was doing, but I felt like I was on a very clear path, you know? Um, and so I was- while you’re sitting out front, you’re here- a very winding path. Um, and then, um, so kind of fast forward through all of that, I met Mara, um, at- we always laugh about- at a networking event. And where I remember both of us giving our like 1-minute spiel, you know, and the whole room just sort of blank faces at what I was saying.

I owned a yoga studio at the time, kind of before yoga was, you know, as big as it is now. And Mara was obviously sharing about her Chinese medicine, uh, practice. And I just remember like making eye contact across the room and being like, there’s one person in this room who understands me, you know? And fast friends started doing offerings together in Central Oregon at that time. 15, almost 15 years later, I got a call from Mara.

She moved away, I moved away. So we had stayed in contact, but hadn’t been in the same place for a while, but got a call this last January from Mara that basically her dream is coming true. She’s starting a luxury wellness retreat company. What a cool call. And it’s like receive and make.

Exactly. And I was like, your dreams are coming. Like, I was just celebrating her. And then she was like, well, do you want to be involved? And of course my answer was yes.

And now 5 retreats later, here we’re sitting with you and this group of people who are here now. And yeah, it’s, it’s incredible. Yeah. What a group of people. Yeah.

And you mentioned the, the linear path. I- not to downplay your path, but I don’t think anybody’s path really is linear. But for the work that you do and you do and where we are, that’s definitely a more dynamic path than others take. I think it’s a- there’s an abundance mindset or a go-getter mindset, however you want to describe that, that kind of sets you above others. And not to say that you’re above others, but differentiates, which allows you, I think, to move more humans in a particular direction.

I think there are a couple of things that Bree and I share as characteristics and that have been brought up very obviously in some of the retreats we’ve hosted over the past few months is I don’t live out of decision-making from fear. I do it because I’m intuitively listening to my gut of what my calling is, of what God’s purpose for me is. And Bri touched on that just a little bit ago of if there’s one thing Bri could tell people to do is to listen to your instinct. And that I think is actually what differentiates people is instead of staying in a place of fear or paralyzed by fear, they listen to their gut, their innate capability to drive themselves and then they take the leap no matter what the consequence is going to be. They kind of go, I’m going to go for it.

And if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. And it’s the idea every successful person on the planet has faceplanted more times than they’ve been successful. Sure. We’re just not afraid to faceplant. There’s a great quote that I used to read my students as part of a comic.

There’s this really great artist who did comics. And it’s that the master has failed so many more times than other artists have even attempted. But you don’t see all the failed attempts. You see that final piece of art, you know, whether it’s the shiny part and then you think it’s easy, right? It looks like it’s easy.

And I’m like, it’s not easy. When you see someone making it look easy, for instance, you go see your favorite band and you’re like, yes, this Wow, they make it look easy. That is a lot of time and dedication that make it easy when you get up and do their thing. Yeah. Steve, the owner of Pranamaya, and I have a joke that we both have a disease and it’s contagious and that we are masochistic serial entrepreneurs.

This has been fantastic. I want to thank you because my wife sees that in me, that like, what are you doing starting this and that? And I can’t help it, but I need to. It’s a disease. Yeah, it’s- but I promise it’s going to work out.

Look where we are. You know, something’s happening. But disease is kind of feels like a negative spin, but it does. I feel like it. I don’t want it to be.

It’s- it’s not curable. I hope it’s contagious. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.

And now- and you don’t have a choice. Steve always says to me, he looks at me, he says, you don’t have a choice, right? You don’t have a choice. So you can just start saying to your beautiful wife, be like, I’m sorry, honey, I don’t have a choice. Yes.

Yeah, I’m, I’m here manifesting. Yes, yes, exactly. So let’s nutshell where you came from, Mara, to, to bring you to this spot. Obviously we got a little bit of setup that you were able to call her 15 years later and say, my dream’s coming true. So How long ago did you realize that dream?

What specifically is that dream? How’d you get there? Well, 3-part question. It’s a 3-part question. I’m gonna start with the first part of the question is, where am I from?

It’s very interesting actually, Brie had never thought about this and I feel like we should do some astrological alignment thing that I’m from Central Vermont and she’s from Central Oregon and I’m, yeah, we’re gonna have to look at an atlas and see, but, I grew up as a small-town rural girl also. I had never been exposed to holistic wellness whatsoever. I was from a very Western medical paradigm. My mom sat on the Vermont State Medical Board for over 30 years. I was not raised taking herbs, doing acupuncture, receiving chiropractic care.

These were not words that existed back in the ’70s, ’80s, even ’90s. I mean, it’s just in the past decade become something that is on almost everybody’s lips. It’s still my go-to for everything I do, and I’m still shocking people. And it shocks me that I’m still shocking people because I’m like, how are we still shocking people with something that I just live by every day? Like right now, one of my dogs is getting chiropractic care.

He’s getting laser, chiropractic, fascial healing, acupuncture, red light therapy. And people go, you can do that with a dog? And I’m like, I mean, they have the same skeletal system and fascial network and yeah, slipped discs and herniated discs and compression issues. So yes, I’m going to go to a holistic integrative functional paradigm, not just for myself, but for my pets. But I take it for granted now because it’s not actually how I was raised.

And so I then went in. I came from an entrepreneurial family, very business set, hence my inheriting the disease. It’s an inherited situation. And I went into the family business. I was the travel manager for the Rolling Stones for 10 years and other VIPs in the music and film industries, working for my aunt, who was the director of her travel luxury travel management company for the most discerning individual.

I joke that I got my MBA on the road with my aunt, and I then had an episode where my back went into spasm while I was touring, and it laid me out flat on the floor, and I could not move. I was immobilized. And this is a problem when your entire job is to be on the road and touring, and you’re laid out. And my aunt, who was completely holistic, and I gained all of this insight from, said, you need to go see my chiropractor slash acupuncture. And I said, I have no idea what either of those two things mean, but I am willing to do absolutely anything.

I laid face up on the table and I was like, what is this person doing to heal me? My back is over here. How am I laying face up on the table? Within that first visit, I felt better. Within 3 visits, it was like nothing had happened.

I was back on the road, I was touring, and I was healed after just 3 visits within a 1-week time period. It was affordable, it was easy, it made me feel better almost immediately, right? 3 visits in 1 week, that’s healing. And to go back to doing the things that I not only needed to do but would- wanting to be doing. And my light bulb went off, and I went, this is the medicine I’m meant to practice, this is my calling.

And so I actually went to my house, uh, ski house in Tahoe. At the time, I lived in San Francisco, and I went alone, and I climbed a mountain in my snowshoes and I sat in the snow kind of like Muhammad at the top of the mountain. Wow. And I sat and I talked to God. I had a conversation and I said, am I meant to continue with my aunt and take over the reins of her business, which is what she was handing me and is such an honor because she was so respected and a powerhouse as a woman in business in that industry?

Or am I meant to leave this and am I going to go to medical school, and am I going to become an integrative holistic practitioner? And it was so obvious. Wow. And I literally ran down the mountain, ran down that snowy mountain, and I gave my notice with my aunt, and I started my medical schooling, I think, like 6 months later. Um, and it’s my passion.

I get to practice my passion every single day through this 10 years of my medical schooling. Now having started 2 acupuncture clinics that are integrative and functional medicine practices in multiple states, um, just to add to the masochistic entrepreneurial spirit, um, I have always had the vision of bringing everything together. I have such a unique niche of knowing what the most discerning individual needs when they are traveling. I know what a true 5-star luxury resort looks like because I was paid to tear them apart and rebuild them for that discerning traveler. And then I have this 20 years now of experience in the health and wellness paradigm, and I just wanted to bring them together.

For 20 years now. This is all I’ve been working toward and wanting to do. I had written a bound business book even that I was handing out to my former GM contacts at the hotels that I had booked the Rolling Stones and other VIPs in. And I was like, what do you think? Let’s bring- I’m not going to do travel management, but I could like run your spa or I could change the whole dynamic of what you’re doing here of health and wellness, because these resorts have really, really crappy Spas, they are McDonald’s basically.

And I started giving away- these hotels would gift me a spa treatment when I would be there. I started giving, regifting them because they were a waste of my time. I wasn’t healing, and they were charging like $400 for a 50-minute massage, and it was a waste of my time, right? And so I thought, where, where Where is this place? Where is this Shangri-La?

Where is- and I came at Christmas last year. Pranamaya had just opened. I was one of their very first guests. Of course, I ripped it apart from top to bottom. I joke that I put my Mick Jagger goggles on and I look at hotels as though, how could he stay here?

Right? And I like that visualization. And it happened to be that Steve, the owner, was here for Christmas as well. And we met. And that is a whole nother story of how we actually first met, which I’ll share at another time.

Can you not say it on the record? No, I can. I can say it on the record. It’s just- it’s a very funny story that I don’t actually typically wear makeup or do my hair like on a day-to-day basis. Even going into my practice, I am not doing that.

And I came in that old professional stance as though I was the travel manager representing my aunt’s business, going into these hotels, representing the client caliber that we are bringing in. And I would have hair done and makeup done and I’d be very professionally dressed. And every day that I was running around Pranamaya, I was professionally dressed and put together. I wasn’t really treating it like a vacation for Christmas. And I had a moment that I was like, I actually have kind of done my work here of vetting the property and I’m going to take a minute and go to the pool.

I’m going to get my book. I’m going to put my bathing suit on. I mean, it’s the world’s second largest barrier reef system. We’re at the ocean. We’re in Belize.

I’m going to go. And I was setting up my scuba session for the next day. I was in my bathing suit with my messy bun on top of my head and bent over at the front desk with my ass sticking out into the air. And all of a sudden there’s this face bent over with me and was like, hi. And I was like, oh no, no, no, no, no.

And he was like, no. I said no.

I was properly dressed 5 minutes ago. I was properly dressed. This is not how I’m meeting the owner of a 5-star private island resort. Clearly was how you were meeting. Apparently we should have more meetings in our bathing suits.

That’s why. Yeah, I’ve taken this as a new, like, going to be a chapter in my- when we write a business book is going to be don’t take yourself so seriously all the time. Start having meetings in your bathing suit, right? Have the messy bun. Don’t wear the makeup.

Go barefoot kind of idea. From that minute that Steve and I met, we just locked in and started walking. Step in step with one another, and we have manifested each other. And that was the first thing he ever said to me. He said, I’ve manifested you and you manifested me, and now we don’t have a choice.

Wow. And I was like, that’s amazing. Okay, I don’t know what this means. This is crazy. And then I left here at Christmas.

Two weeks later, I started Mar Medical Group. Called Bree, very first phone call said, here’s my vision. And she’s like, you’ve been wanting to do this since I’ve known you for 15+ years. And she’s like, of course I do. And the evolution of us bringing these different groups of health and wellness providers, business professionals who have a like-minded heart, kindred spirit to this property.

I used to go, you and I speak music. Right. That’s my- that’s my- one of my love languages is music. Even though it’s not a love language, I think music should be considered a love language. Certainly is.

Yeah, it’s a love. And I used to- at the end of every Shoreline Amphitheater season in San Francisco, Neil Young would finish with the Bridge School Benefit. And this was a compilation of multiple artists who would come out together and they would play acoustic. And it was raising money for the Bridge School, which is for children who have learning developmental needs, and the kids are all on the stage. But one artist would come out after the next.

You’re like, how could they have done that? They’re not going to top that. There’s no way they’re going to top that. And then the next person who came out would just blow your mind. You’d be crying in a different way, dancing in a different rhythm.

And that is how I felt with- I’m going to cry- with every single one of these retreats.

They just keep topping each other. Yeah, this is the dream. Yeah, this is the dream. Yeah, I’m very proud of you. I know we haven’t known each other a long time, but both of you, it’s exceptional.

And, you know, my wife has really been talking to me a lot, um, over several years about manifestation. I did- I, you know, I never really knew what that was. I had no idea. She’s much more in this realm than I am, but I am absolutely like now on board because it makes a lot of sense. Um, and, uh, real quick, is it’s not a great podcast unless someone cries, so thanks, but they’re not sure.

Cue tears. Let’s hold hands. Okay, it’s funny, but this has been- to answer your question, I have been working toward this, and now Steve is making this dream come true. And then I’m helping fulfill his vision of why he built this property. Yeah.

And I mean, he named it Prana Maya. Prana is our life force, our breath. It’s our chi that we extend and share with each other and out into the world. And then Maya is the ancient Maya civilization, civilization of Belize. And then it also means magic.

So it’s also the magic of our breath, of our shared energy with each other. So who is this man? Who built a 5-star resort, who believes in prana and magic. Yeah. And so a red carpet of opportunity where it took you now to bring this like full vision together.

I was just talking to Steve in the kitchen a moment ago and he explained that. I was like, oh my goodness, how neat is that, that he built this and then, like, let in someone very new to his life. Yeah, but that’s the entrepreneurial mindset is like saying yes, going for it. And you saying yes to her right away on that call. And it’s been a beautiful evolution that he and I are now not making a single decision without consulting with each other on any level of what’s happening on the property so that we’re working from one line minded vision and then execution of that vision.

There is no contradictory element that is happening on the property from the food is medicine to we’re washing the linens in EcoSheets to there’s no chemicals being sprayed when the rooms are being cleaned. There is no herbicides, pesticides, or fungicides when we are spraying for the bugs. We’re spraying garlic and neem oil. All of the food is locally sourced, organically sourced, sustainably sourced, farm to table. There isn’t anything that we’re touching that the detail hasn’t been left unturned, and we just play off of each other.

And even out of that evolution, I started Mar Medical Group, and we together just decided to rename it Mar Wellness Group. We don’t want to be affiliated as medical. Yeah, we are here to keep you from going the medical route or get you out of the medical route as quickly as possible so that you can go back to your innate capability of your optimal being and optimal wellness. And so this pranamaya resort and wellness is now what everyone is feeling. Wellness is also beyond like, oh, I’ve healed my achy leg or my back is good.

Wellness is inside your head completely. It’s it’s my past of, you know, of needing to heal certain trauma or whatever that might be. Taking a beat, a breath, you know. Yoga this morning was fantastic. My kids might have been a little disruptive.

No, I kept thinking about it. I kept opening my eye and it would- your children are beautiful, by the way. And then that energy that they bring is pure, genuine, clean. So, magic, right? Really?

So hearing the little barefoot pitter-patters as we’re running around, that’s its own yoga, right? Yeah. Yeah. So I love that. That was not disruptive.

That was very, very beautifully- yes, a great contribution on their part. Honestly, it’s special for me in those moments because I’m, I’m experiencing what you just described and experiencing it, but from like, I created that thing. Like, that’s unbelievable. And still processing, right? Um, so prana being breath, you know, one thing that I learned- I can’t remember, it was early on in my yoga learning, many, many years ago- and I had a really great instructor who, she reminded us that actually yoga is all about the breath, that poses are sort of a distraction.

And, and I never looked at it like that. And sure, it’s like, okay, that’s a perspective of what yoga is, but it really is about the breath and then work on your movement if you’ve lost your breath. Correct. Yeah. And I never thought about that.

And I was- my mind was absolutely blown because what, you know, hot yoga too, I thought my first session, I thought I was going to die. I really did. And, and but I stuck with it and I was like, how do people do this? The next one I was like, oh my gosh, I got through the class and then I kept going. I could not believe what my body was capable of, but it was because I was controlling my breath better.

And that was a wild awakening. It was super important. And then that translates off of your mat and out into your day-to-day, that when we literally lose our breath, we lose our way, we can come back to our breath. We can reset very quickly by focusing on our breath. Yeah, my wife’s doing a really good job of coaching our kids when they’re, you know, having a moment.

Yeah. To just, like, breathe through it. And we breathe through it together and I feel it. Yeah, we all do that. I will catch myself that I will be out of breath, like I’ll be laying in bed completely.

So I’ll be going, oh, and I can’t get my breath. And it’s because I have- I’ve been holding my breath all day. Yeah, because I’ve been stressed, because I’ve been holding on as tightly as I can to survive the stress, the fact, whatever it is I’m navigating in that particular day. And so it’s so important we come back to that. And I think the work that Bree does as somatic healer and Reiki practitioner and yoga instructor is that ability to open up the channels, to be in community with somebody and focus on during sessions.

It’s always number one, let’s breathe, right? Let’s breathe together. Yeah, I almost want to do that with my clients in our meetings. Nothing to do with marketing or podcast or creative production, but it’s like we could be- well, they really have more oxygen to their brain, and then they will be more creative, and they will calm and come out of fight or flight mode. And when we’re out of fight or flight mode, we learn, we absorb, we retain more.

That’s why coming to a place like this is so amazing, is everything we’re sharing and gaining, we’re going to retain more than if we are in fight or flight mode. Yeah, you’re open to receiving it at a whole nother level than the hustle and bustle back home. Doesn’t have to be that. We were- were we just talking about- we- it seems like a common thread of like what a place like this does to humans compared to the- our entire lives. But it doesn’t need to be that way.

We are setting up society. We control our, our destiny and what we do and what we make and the businesses that we create, how we breathe. And it’s just interesting, the decisions that collectively we make to go this direction. Why are we all so competitive and, you know, hurting ourselves to our- all of our detriment, right? In certain scenarios, nobody’s winning.

Maybe one person, and they’re probably unhappy. So it’s like, what are we doing? Can we just like take a step back? Yeah, all come to Pranamaya and like chill out. Yes, everyone come to Pranamaya.

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But it’s really this. It’s absolutely already in my- through my eyes, this, this combination of a powerful place that is secluded and at a high level of attention and beautiful, beautiful. And with the combination of what you guys are doing, I mean, I’m not sure what else you could tack on to that. Okay. Food.

Boom. And then your treatment of the chemicals that you use or the lack thereof. I didn’t even realize that. See, I’m still learning. Yeah.

That’s, you know, it’s like what- actually, I’m going to ask what would be the next? What is- what do you think is missing here? There’s like, okay, this is on the next on the punch list. I don’t know. It’s pretty perfect.

Pretty wonderful. It’s pretty great. I think what we’re missing is the knowledge that this is a safe space for people to come to with this like-minded cohort. Like, we can’t say it enough and we’re saying it all the time because we’re so excited about people coming. Like, we want you to come.

We want you to come feel the magic. And people keep saying, well, send us pictures or send a description. I’m like, no, just, just come. Because- and that’s why I invited you to come, because I was like, I can talk all day long about how amazing this place is. It’s kind of like we can talk about how powerful somatic healing is, or how beautiful and calming yoga is, or how incredibly balancing acupunctures.

But until you personally feel it, participate in it, you’re not going to have the knowing. And people take that private boat ride over to the island, they get off, they kick their shoes off. You don’t have to lock your doors. The food is medicine. The water is clean right out of the faucet.

The waves are lapping. It’s like, oh, now I get it. Yeah. Okay. I wasn’t really getting what you were saying.

I’m like, I know, because you got to just come. You got to come. So the missing piece is how do you, how do you show people instead of tell them? I mean, that’s, that’s kind of like a big part of how do you market and show? You can tell, but show as well.

That’s a tough one, but I think easier with the setup. You could take a picture. I could just move my camera anywhere, even when this is not staged, and it’s perfect. It’s a beautiful picture right here. Right here.

Right there. It’s amazing. Real quick, before we go past this, you’ve mentioned somatic healing a couple of times. We’ve mentioned yoga and, and meditation and acupuncture. I think most people probably are on, on the same page about that.

What’s somatic healing? Yeah. So somatic healing, the word comes from soma, which is our, the more fluid and subtle levels of both the physical body and the energy body. And so a somatic Healing session or somatic experiencing session is about slowing down enough to start to feel the subtleties of different layers of our being. And so when I do a session with someone, for example, we’ll usually do like, you know, a hand on, you know, either the heart or the belly.

We usually start there. Sometimes I don’t ever even move my hand because we just start to sink through layers of whatever arises. And it’s interactive, so it’s dialogue-based. So I would ask questions and people would share. Essentially what’s arising in my hand is all it’s doing is holding a bit of attention, a place of attention for the person to keep coming back to.

And we just essentially go inside of them, feel what their inner wisdom is showing them. It might be on, you know, somewhere toward a challenging memory from their childhood. It might be something really beautiful. It might be some combination. There’s usually waves of whether it’s emotion or memories.

But it’s essentially slowing down enough to create the space to feel the more fluid and subtle parts of us that are not just the, essentially, the mind or the thinking layer. Wow. It’s all so important. You know, when you think about, like, what’s our priority with what we do with our bodies and our time? You know, you were, uh, you were just speaking with someone, um, who has another podcast, which I’m going to be talking with her.

The amount of caliber of people here. Yeah, that’s why I was saying I would like to land on one of these. That way, too, is like, how are we going to top it? Are we going to talk? And then these people come and I don’t mean to not highlight how incredibly beautiful the previous retreats have been.

They have all built from one on to the next. The energy that every individual contributes here, it just blows my mind that it’s contained- that you’re like, I can’t believe I get to be surrounded by people like this, right? There’s a saying, I want to be the stupidest person in the room. Sure thing. Yeah, right?

Because it means I’m elevated by all these really inspiring people around me, and I’m learning new things, and I’m exposed to new ideas and concepts and ways of being healthy and finding optimal wellness that I wouldn’t be exposed to otherwise. Absolutely. This is a very up-leveling place. Definitely. When we were in the circle a few hours ago, maybe 3 hours ago or something like that, we went around the circle and everybody had a few minutes to introduce themselves.

And each person, I go, really? There’s more? There’s more? And I, I look to my wife because she’s like, you’re gonna start another thing? Because I started a co-working community, which is how we Yes.

In the same space as you. I go, ah, thank goodness I did that. It’s here we are. But she’s like, how are you? Why are you doing that?

You already have Naaman Creative. What are you doing with Connect St. Pete? I go, I can’t help it. But now being in with all of these people who are like, yeah, I have this and that and this going on, I go, see, see, this is, this is why I’m actually not even doing as much as these people. So we’re cool, right?

Because she’s, you know, fighting for bandwidth. I’m right. But I do try to be very present and bring them along. Yes, the ride. But, you know, it goes fast.

And, and so speaking of somatic healing and fast, why I was thinking about the other podcasters, because you were talking about slowness, that, you know, taking a step back from this competition of exhaustion. I think you had said something along those lines. Reminded me of a quote that I love. I think it might be a Marine quote, but it’s so applicable elsewhere. It’s slow is smooth and smooth is fast.

Because if you’re going fast, might make mistakes that then you have to go back and rework and now you’ve actually lost time. Whereas if you were just going slow at the beginning and methodical, and that smoothness actually translates to being fast, right, and efficient. We have a yoga instructor, mutual yoga instructor that we both love, and her saying is, slow is fast. So it’s fast. Meaning when you’re doing a yoga posture and you’re trying to go from one to the next, go slow, go with intention, go with your breath, and then you will be able to move properly and quickly.

Right. Did you just say “slogan”? Slow is fast. Oh, no. But did you not?

Did you? I thought you said the word “slogan.” Oh, no, but that’s a whole new point. There’s a business. There’s a brand. See, it’s this disease.

I’m telling you, it’s contagious. All right, so let’s have a quick 5 minutes before the next thing that we’re doing. What are we doing next? We are doing the Garafuna dance class. Yeah.

You want to talk about the Garafuna dance class? Yes. Yeah, so there’s an amazing group of people from a community a little ways up the road, and they’re going to come teach us a traditional Garifuna dance class. So it’s an ethnic group who’s here in Belize, and they specifically are going to teach us something. They have come and performed.

They’re drummers, they’re dancers. Yeah. And so we’re going to have a blast. Yeah, me too. It’s very fun.

I wonder if they’ll bring an extra drum for me. Oh, maybe. Or they might share with you.

I, I wanted to ask, what is the Gumby effect? The Gumby effect is that you feel all loose and goosey and relaxed. So remember that toy Gumby? Yeah, right. And it’s like you could mold it and pull it and stretch it and it would kind of go back.

Right. But it, it didn’t get pulled where it’s like now your neck is out. Right. It was this idea. And I explain that to people when they get acupuncture.

I say, have you ever had a massage? Because 9 out of 10 people will have had a massage, but they may have never had acupuncture. So I say, okay, well, you know that feeling when you leave a massage and you’re all loosey-goosey like a Gumby? And everyone of our generation knows who Gumby is, right? And they’re like, oh yeah.

And they’ve got this visual of this toy because I want to bring it back to play. I want to bring it back to having fun. And then I say, and acupuncture, you can times that feeling by 1,000. That’s how relaxed and tapping into our parasympathetic nervous system. All that we’re doing here is downregulating our nervous system to get into our parasympathetic nervous system state, which is all about quiet, calm digestion and sleep.

We are overly stuck in our sympathetic nervous system state, which is fight or flight, get up and go and run and run and the exhaustive burnout. And then we’re not taking care of ourselves. And if we’re not taking care of ourselves, we can’t take care of anyone else. And then this negative cycle happens, right? And so I really love the Winnie the Pooh quote that if I take care of me and you take care of you, then we can be there for each other.

Yeah, that’s a great quote. That’s Winnie the Pooh’s great. But yeah, yeah. When you take care of yourself, you inherently then are able to help me. Yeah.

Free. Yeah, because we have to show up. We got to show up. Otherwise, it’s like the mask. We took 2 plane rides as part of our travels here.

And every plane ride, it’s you need to put on your mask first before you help others. And for a bit, like when I was younger, I was like, why is that? You know, like, if I have kids, I’m putting their mask on first. But what if you don’t even get to their mask because you can’t breathe? Right, exactly.

And then you can’t help them. Yeah. So we need to be doing our own work. We are not victims. Life has not happened to you.

It’s happening for you. And you need to show up every day as the best version of yourself. It’s gonna be messy. It’s not gonna be good. I had Bri talk me through something I was not navigating well yesterday because I was like, I want to change my own mental outlook on something.

Help guide me to do it because if I don’t do it now, it’s only up to me to do. It’s not going to go- it’s not going to have the outcome that I optimally want. So talk with people who you can confide in, you can talk to, but we need to show up every single day doing our own work. Yeah. Yeah.

If we just gave ourselves a little room, you know, and got out of the rat race just for- I mean, it doesn’t even have to be hours. No, it can be an hour with somatic healing. It can be a few seconds of breathwork. It can be an hour of acupuncture. It can simply focusing on being barefoot and grounding in the earth and getting some sunshine and learning what real food is, right?

A lot of everyone who is attracted to come here lives their life as a first and foremost principle that food is medicine, period. We can do all the acupuncture, we can do all the somatic healing, we can do all the grounding, But if you’re out there eating crap food, it’s not going to make a difference. And so we can make good choices about how to heal ourselves. And for unique individuals, food that fuels you is not necessarily food that fuels me or you. But there’s the quality that we need to focus on.

How did our ancestors eat? They didn’t have microwaves and cellophane packaging. Yeah, certainly. So it’s interesting that It’s like food is taken so for granted that it’s an afterthought. We’re just like, get it down.

And obviously this isn’t everybody, but yeah, as a society, I think it’s fair to say that we- the, the things that we put into our body, which is the most important thing, is our fuel. It is us. It’s what generates all of my cells and regenerates them and everything. And that’s like not a priority. No.

It’s wild. Yeah. What’s up with that? Yeah, I just think we’re just going so fast. And I get it.

Also, it’s hard because now you need to make money and now you need to make more. And it’s very difficult. And depending on how you’re raised and how do you crawl out of that or climb out of that. And but, you know, I really think these roots are everything because if you take care of yourself and you start to work up this hierarchy of needs, then you’re actually going to near the top sort of quickly, if you take care of yourself because you’re in a better state, you’re more likely to receive opportunity, grasp it, whatever that may be. People say, well, I can’t afford it, I don’t have the time.

They’re staying in that low vibrational frequency of I can’t, I don’t, and then therefore they won’t. And then they perpetuate that versus I’m going to figure out how to do this, I’m going to figure out how to make it happen, I’m going to prioritize this. And imagine if the person who was saying that came and sat in the circle we just did a few hours ago. They’d be like, wow, I’m wrong. That was 20 years of therapy in 45 minutes.

No kidding. Should have recorded that.

You want some inspiration? Here it is. Yeah, we could, we could talk a long time. We have reached though, because, uh, we got to get to this dance thing. A very special dance it out, which is- oh, I love that.

I love it. We’re gonna do a quick segment. It is called Rapid fire. Okay. Oh boy.

Okay. Steve makes me holster my gun all the time. So this is exciting. I get to rapid fire.

All right. So ultimately, you can expand on your questions, but the more succinct, the better, especially with two people. So what I’m going to do is I’m going to go Bri first and then Mara second. It’s just because B is before M. Okay. So no favoritism.

I like BM. We do like to talk about poop. I was just going to bring up death. So I think let’s just wrap this up right now. Yeah, that’s amazing.

Poop and death. That’ll be the title of this episode. It will be your most watched episode. Certainly will. We will help you poop better and figure out how to stave off death.

Oh, I thought you were going to say and figure out how to die. Oh, no, no, we do not. No, that’s what medicine is doing. That’s not what wellness at Pranamaya is doing. Certainly, um, certainly.

So, uh, poop and death, here we go. So question 1: what is your biggest source of inspiration, Bree? Wow. Um, at the moment it is the, um, spiritual tradition that I’m currently studying in. And the connection of the spiritual beings who, from other realms, back that tradition and who are very present in, in and with me daily.

Whoa. I feel like I might have heard about this. What is the title of that? Like the spiritual realm? The school is- the school is called Clear Vision, so people can definitely- okay.

Yeah. Okay, cool. Cool. How about you, Mara? Wow.

I just had about like 50 things go into that at the same time. But I will say, because of where we are right now, quiet time in nature, it is hands down my greatest inspiration. Cheers to that. Yeah. Okay, great.

You’re doing great. You both get a point.

Your most- the most impactful book that you’re aware of?

The Overstory by Richard Powers. I never heard of it. Overstory. Great.

How about you, Mara? Oh, man. I’ve got about 30 books open right now because I love to read. And you know what, actually, that I always have that I don’t know that Bree even knows that I have, that I probably have to return to you, is I have the illuminated book of Rumi, and that was yours from Soul Alchemy and Bend. And I keep it as like one of my most prized possessions.

I think I borrowed it from your library and I clearly never returned it. It’s that good. You just kept it. But it- I mean, reading Rumi is- and you can only read, I mean, a very little bit read it a day because it is so powerful, and then how to not just read it but apply it to your life. So I like that.

You know, I feel like when you lend out a book, it’s almost understood, like, I’m giving you this book. If I get it back, that’s cool, but this book is now not mine, out in the ethers. Yeah, passing isn’t them forward. I love passing books forward. Definitely.

Yeah, we have a library at Connect St. Pete. So here we talked about putting in a library here. We literally were out, like, measure, like, where can we put a library? Oh, cool. Yes.

Yeah, I approve. OK. Bonus point. That is a bonus point. So you have 3.

You guys have the highest points of any guests. Wow. Awesome. Yeah, this is great. Of any guests.

Wow. Wow. We give good BM. I know, I was going to say poop and death. Where can you- Here at PM, we give good BM.

That’s your new tagline. That’s it. We give good BM. There’s a reason you brought me here. All right.

Is a tough one. You can only listen to one artist or album on repeat forever. What is that? What’s playing? Give me a second.

I know. And if you need to jump in more and give her more time, that’s okay. But yeah, I know you have a Pink Floyd sticker or something. Yeah, I am. I had said earlier that music is my love language.

So this is incredibly hard to answer. Like, who would I listen to? I will say I’m going to go back to some music that I actually listened to when I was really young. And it kind of shows my, my soul age from a young age is I really love female jazz musicians like Billie Holiday. I could listen to Billie Holiday Probably forever.

That would be one because it suits any mood you’re in. You can get real happy with Billie Holiday. You can get really intellectual with Billie Holiday. You can get really sad with Billie Holiday. Those are the best artists.

Those are the best artists. And you could have a really sexy dance with Billie Holiday. That is a wide range. Yeah. So I would say Billie Holiday would probably be my- if I had to pick one, but that’s This is definitely the hardest question.

Really? I know, it gets real. I don’t like when people ask me this. Yeah, I- okay, so I don’t really- I don’t think I have a good answer, but I have a- there is a particular Kirtan artist called Snatam Kaur. I probably just didn’t say her name right.

Snatam Kaur. And she has many albums And for whatever reason, whenever I’m on a long road trip, I tend to listen to whatever the YouTube channel is or whatever the Spotify channel is. And it’s just like all of her chanting music on some kind of loop or repeat, or it’s like a very full range of things. So I don’t know if I could say that that’s like the ultimate answer to your question, but something came to mind about- actually, it’s also on my playlist that I often listen to on the airplane. Cool.

Oh, that’s great. Soothing, inspiring, meditative. Yeah. Love it. Yeah.

Okay. Not surprising. That’s fantastic. I know it’s a hard question. We’ll get away from it for time’s sake.

I have one more for you. And so you have 4 out of 3 points, each of you. Wow. So 4 out of 3. This is, this is really impressive.

And I’m not sure we really need to record anymore. Episodes after this. So, uh, final one. If you had to, what would be your definition of success? If you had to define it.

Bree, you want to go first? Keep that order. Sure. I’m gonna bring up death. There it is.

I mean, this is kind of like shavasana-style death. No, like death death, like a passing. Like, like a passing of the soul. Yeah, but it’s like, well, okay, so I think different people say this, so it’s not an original thought. I’ll just say that first, which is when we die, there’s a lot- or are in a process of, let’s say someone’s going through a slow death.

I imagine and have watched people and been with people through that process where they all of a sudden realize that most of how they spent their time didn’t actually matter. Mm-hmm. And that’s a pretty big thing to reconcile with in your last moments or days or weeks of life. Um, because I think to a degree we come for- I don’t mean like one reason, as in people miss their destinies, but I think it’s a pretty big gift to have life and to then do something meaningful with it. And whatever meaningful is looks really different as well.

So I think success would be doing the kinds of reflection and the kinds of practices over the course of a life where when someone dies, they’re able to die in a good way, whatever that means to them. Well, I love- live back at their life and think or feel, I used this body, this resource that was given to me, and the time that was given to me in a way that meant something. We had a beautiful woman who was part of our retreat last time, and she has a tattoo on her wrist, and her work that she does with her patients is getting them out of fear-based- if you remember, she has the tattoo, says sin miedo, which means without fear. And it’s that- it’s a life completely well-lived, not stuck in fear, which is what then people would be literally stuck with regret. I regretted I didn’t do that.

I regretted I didn’t do that. I regretted I didn’t do that. Yeah. Living sin miedo. I will say there’s a lot of common answers to this one.

That is not. So you get an extra point. That’s really what I’m after. Yeah. It’s just about everybody comes on my show.

Success is all the points from the show. That’s it. That’s great. That’s great. I like to win everything.

Success. I do have that part of me. Yeah. I mean, you’re here, so there’s something to that. Yeah.

How about you, Mara? Well, success is one. I don’t feel like I’m always the littlest person in the room. I won’t take that right now. I was like in the kids’ chair.

Contentment. Feeling content. And I’ve had to explain this to a few people because they kind of- take it as a negative, like, oh, I’m complacent. That’s good enough. I have probably only felt content a handful of times in my entire life where I was truly clear that I was not wanting of anything in that moment.

I wasn’t needing to be hotter or colder. I wasn’t needing water or not water. I wasn’t wanting to be sitting with somebody else and not with somebody. All the things that cause our brain to do this and versus sitting in the present moment and truly being. That is success to me.

That means I feel fulfilled, I feel safe, I feel comfortable, I’m content. Yeah, it doesn’t mean I am not striving and I’m not ambitious. It doesn’t mean I am not being creative. It has nothing to do with those things. It means being in the present moment.

And that to me is supreme success. Yeah. Oh, it’s feeling content. Yeah. Both great answers.

And when I feel that, I literally am brought to tears. And that’s why I said I can, I can literally count on one hand how many times I’ve ever felt that in my life. Wow. Do you feel content when you’re here? Um, I’ve had moments.

Yeah. I am- our days are 16-hour days for Bree and me when we’re here. They’re beautiful 16-hour days. It does not feel like a 16-hour day in the United States. So I don’t mean to compare it that way.

We’re not getting in cars and driving 80 miles an hour and wondering where our parking place is and if we locked our house. It’s a 16-hour day that has a beautiful flow and the time goes so fast when I take the moments to pause And typically every morning I actually go out and I go skinny dipping early in the morning and I just sit in the water and I let whatever little natural object can come to me. It could be a seashell, it could be a starfish, it could be a piece of coral. And I will put it in my hand and hold it and just hold- I’m not grip, just hold it. And I will feel the energy and I am content.

In that moment, and I’m feeling, and I’m receiving, and I’m absorbing. And then I’m calling in from God in that moment, what is the purpose of today? Wow. And then I put that gently back into where it came from, and then I will come to Brian. I’ll be like, I’ve got it for today.

This is what, like, our vision is going to be. This is what God has called in, and that through us as a vessel, we’re going to extend and share out. Wow. I feel it. Like I said, my time that I am truly inspired is when I am alone and quiet in nature.

And nude. And nude. And particularly, certainly. I mean, when we swim, we’re wearing very little normally. Yeah.

Which is, which is really. But that’s also- I go back to that’s how safe it is here, in particular from a women’s point, a woman’s point of view. That’s how safe it feels here, is to go out to sit quietly in this beautiful, clean water. Under the sun, under the stars, surrounded by like-minded, kind individuals. And no one’s caring, no one’s paying any attention.

It has nothing to do with any of that. But that’s content. That’s not me wishing I were somewhere else or wanting to be somewhere else. It’s me being truly here in the present moment, calling in the prana, calling in the magic. Yeah, well, that’s fantastic.

You have both won rapid fire with bonus points. So I believe- does everybody get a car? Does everybody get a car? Everybody. We don’t need one on the island.

Yeah. Yeah, that’s right. We don’t even need it. You get a boat. We get a boat.

Everybody gets a boat. It’s, it’s, you know, I think very fitting. You’re talking about being present and content. Like for me today, when we were in that circle and I just was holding my children who kept running in and out of me. And looking at them here, I have been able to take, like, shift down not one gear, but several gears.

And there’s something very special that’s happening because also I’m here to experience it and, you know, see what opportunity is in this partnership. But my focus has been, like, in my children’s eyes and holding them and kissing them here has been super duper special. I’m sure- thank you for present. And in the moment and you’re feeling content. Super feeling content.

And when you die, you are never going to look back at this moment and regret that you didn’t spend this time with your kids and your wife. These are probably the moments that I hope flash quickly. And this would be like part of that highlight reel. Will, I’m sure, is how special this time is. And so if this kind of stuff is not a testament to what you’re doing here, in the space and with the work that you’re doing, which does not feel like work.

No, but it is good work. It’s passion. Yeah, it’s just we’re extending passion to others to help inspire and fire up their passion and go back and then share that passion and that fire with other people. I love that. I really appreciate it.

I know we’re like, we got to go dance now. We got to go dance now. So we got a drum circle. Yeah. I think this will, you know, part 2 or 3.

Every year we just come back. Yes. And do it. Please let me come back. We’re sorry.

No, but I appreciate both of you. Thank you for the time and congratulations on all the good work that you’re doing here and elsewhere, because I know that it’s, it’s so important and it’s, it’s needed. Right now. Like, I believe more than ever. And I know maybe that’s clich to say, but I hope that, you know, anybody listening might be inspired by this.

Even if they can’t come here, um, or yet, they can take away a lot here. So, or they can manifest coming here. 100%, right? There it is. Yeah.

Yeah. You want to go manifest some dancing? Yeah. All right. Yeah.

Thank you, guys. You rock. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you.

That was awesome. That was so good.