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Taking Agency Over Our Health with Ryan Mundy · Deeply Well with Devi Brown

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Speaker 1: M from grandmothers who whispered in their baby girl in
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Speaker 1: two fathers on dimly lit street corners, instructing young soldiers
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Speaker 1: to always keep their eyes open. You be queen, you
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Speaker 1: were fired. You will pass through centuries on the hands
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Speaker 1: of your daughters. They called you wisdom. Proverbs on the
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Speaker 1: backs of diamond eyed school children who growing into hymnals
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Speaker 1: recited by amethyst holding urban philosophers who recited neighborhood commandments
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Speaker 1: out of the windows of restored Alchemedo chariots. To keep
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Speaker 1: the warmth of their blood, be wise, be smart, being black,
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Speaker 1: Opal Brown courts bloodstone and prayer. Be every form of
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Speaker 1: jim se King told, scribe, scribe, told son, son, told wife,
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Speaker 1: wife told her daughter, and daughter told the ass is.
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Speaker 1: And the ancestors told me that you would come to
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Speaker 1: give wisdom thousands. They said you would come Dropping Dropping Gym. Hey,
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Speaker 1: welcome back to the Dropping Gym's podcast. I'm Debbie Brown
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Speaker 1: and on today's episode, we are exploring mental health, but
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Speaker 1: specifically mental health resources. Have a wonderful gas joining us
1:26
Speaker 1: today someone that has been making a lot of moves,
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Speaker 1: especially for accessibility and the democratization of mental health. That
1:35
Speaker 1: is a word that's been thrown out a lot lately,
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Speaker 1: democratizing wellness, democratizing well mental health. But what that really
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Speaker 1: means is making sure that people have high level access
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Speaker 1: to get their needs met regardless of who you are,
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Speaker 1: your socio economic background, or your cultural background. So today's show,
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Speaker 1: I have a special guest, Ryan Mundy, who is a
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Speaker 1: native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and is the founder and CEO
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Speaker 1: of Alchemy, which is a mental health platform that offers
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Speaker 1: skills based video therapy sessions and mindfulness practices that are
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Speaker 1: designed for the culture. Previously, Ryan played eight seasons in
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Speaker 1: the National Football League with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the
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Speaker 1: New York Giants and the Chicago Bears. In two thousand nine,
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Speaker 1: Ryan was a member of the Super Bowl forty three
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Speaker 1: championship Pittsburgh Steelers. Ryan serves on the Alzheimer's Association National
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Speaker 1: Board of Directors. He is the nfl PA Players Investment
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Speaker 1: Advisory Committee, Athlete Advisory Board Member, an advisory council member
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Speaker 1: for the Illinois Growth and Innovation Fund, a founding member
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Speaker 1: of the Lift City Works Advisory Council in Chicago, and
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Speaker 1: founding board member of Chicago Blend. Ryan graduated from the
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Speaker 1: University of Michigan with a degree in liberal Arts. Additionally,
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Speaker 1: Ryan holds a master's in Sports management from West Virginia
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Speaker 1: University and an m b a from the University of Miami.
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Speaker 1: Frank currently resides in Chicago with his wife and his
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Speaker 1: two daughters. Welcome to the show, Ryan Mundy, thank you
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Speaker 1: for being here. Hey, thank you so much for having me.
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Speaker 1: I'm excited to chat so Ran. We had a chance
3:16
Speaker 1: to connect during the pandemic. I feel like I connected
3:19
Speaker 1: with so many amazing souls. I don't know if you
3:21
Speaker 1: felt that way too. During the pandemic. It was just
3:24
Speaker 1: like like minded people were really magnetized to each other.
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Speaker 1: It felt like, yeah, and we have I think countless
3:31
Speaker 1: mutual friends, like you know. I'm I've realized that I
3:37
Speaker 1: just need to get out the way and let life
3:39
Speaker 1: happen because just the natural nous and and how like
3:45
Speaker 1: people are connected. The world is very small. Uh. And
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Speaker 1: I always have I have a saying like good people
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Speaker 1: always find a way to connect, and that's never been
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Speaker 1: an issue for me, Like finding the right people at
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Speaker 1: the right time. It's it's kind of like an of mine. Um.
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Speaker 1: And so yeah, just kind of get out the way
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Speaker 1: and let things happen as they shouldn't realize that I
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Speaker 1: am where I am for a reason. Yeah. Yeah, And
4:07
Speaker 1: I remember when we first connected, we had like such
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Speaker 1: an expansive conversation on zoom. Then I had a chance
4:13
Speaker 1: to connect with you in person at the Mental Wealth
4:15
Speaker 1: Expo from Charlemagne the God in New York, and you
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Speaker 1: know the thing that was really So this is what
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Speaker 1: I believe. First, I believe this is the era of
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Speaker 1: the divine masculine. I believe it's also the era of
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Speaker 1: the divine feminine. But I think that for men there
4:30
Speaker 1: is this like emotional renaissance happening that has never happened before.
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Speaker 1: This like for for masses of men. Right, we're not
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Speaker 1: a monolith, but there there's this permission, this freedom. I
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Speaker 1: feel like that's been really powerfully emerging for men, this
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Speaker 1: idea of really being able to care for self, to
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Speaker 1: invest in mental health, to be something other than to
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Speaker 1: see oneself as something other than a provider um. And
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Speaker 1: would you agree with that one thousand percent? I would
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Speaker 1: agree with that. I am living, breathing uh testimony to that,
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Speaker 1: you know, particularly from my background, uh and experience where
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Speaker 1: I'm coming from like this hyper masculine environment of sport,
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Speaker 1: specifically football. I played football for twenty four years, right,
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Speaker 1: and that's a that's a long time to do anything.
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Speaker 1: But particularly in that environment, you know, you start to
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Speaker 1: uh develop some habits, some characteristics, a belief system around,
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Speaker 1: like you know, how you should be showing up in spaces,
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Speaker 1: and then on top of that, like people have an
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Speaker 1: expectation of how you should show up in those spaces
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Speaker 1: to right, As you continue to climb the ladder uh
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Speaker 1: and achieve like higher levels of success, you know, it
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Speaker 1: starts to like these stereotypes and stigmas and perceptions, uh
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Speaker 1: start to inflate you a little bit, um, right, and
5:51
Speaker 1: so you're buying into what it means to be a
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Speaker 1: football player, uh, and more specifically in our context, you're
5:58
Speaker 1: buying in what it means to be a man, and
6:00
Speaker 1: quite frankly personally, like I just got tired of it.
6:02
Speaker 1: I'm like, look, you know, like, yes, you know, I've
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Speaker 1: been blessed and fortunate to achieve some levels of success
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Speaker 1: and sport, playing in the NFL, so on and so forth,
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Speaker 1: but my life is not perfect, right, and I don't
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Speaker 1: want to have to act I don't want to have
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Speaker 1: to walk around like carrying this baggage and saying that
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Speaker 1: like you know, I am I'm smiling on the outside,
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Speaker 1: but literally on the inside, like I'm hurting on a
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Speaker 1: daily basis, just because I feel like I have to
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Speaker 1: quote man up or project something out that's not reflective
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Speaker 1: of how I'm actually feeling inside. Wow, Okay, let's sit
6:35
Speaker 1: there for a second, because there is so much, so
6:40
Speaker 1: much important material there. You know, when you speak to
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Speaker 1: playing football one for twenty four years, Like what I've
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Speaker 1: noticed about the athlete experience is, you know, it feels
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Speaker 1: like for some, for some, not all, but quite a
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Speaker 1: lot when you are connected or when you were seeing
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Speaker 1: as having this talent, this really this talent that needs
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Speaker 1: to be nurtured, this talent that could also provide like
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Speaker 1: freedom to the community, freedom to your family, also just
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Speaker 1: something powerful and exciting to believe in. It feels like
7:19
Speaker 1: everyone in a family structure and a community rallies behind,
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Speaker 1: building that proverbial muscle right like rallies behind and really
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Speaker 1: can powerfully show up like making sure you have your gear,
7:32
Speaker 1: making sure you can be a part of whatever you know.
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Speaker 1: Um competitions are available also like the endurance like practice
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Speaker 1: making sure those needs are met. But it does feel
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Speaker 1: like for many men that are athletes, there is almost
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Speaker 1: this space where every other facet is not necessarily given
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Speaker 1: as much investment or intention, specifically the emotional life specifically
8:01
Speaker 1: um as it relates to a sense of identity outside
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Speaker 1: of this very physical sport. How do you relate to that? Yeah,
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Speaker 1: there's a lot to impact there um when thousand percent
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Speaker 1: and you know, the the analogy is around like building muscle. Right,
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Speaker 1: So as an athlete, you're you're you're taught to build
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Speaker 1: up that physical body. Uh. And by building up that
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Speaker 1: physical body, you know, your your legs, your arms, so
8:27
Speaker 1: on and so forth. There is a side of you
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Speaker 1: that is mentally developed to right, Like, let's not kid
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Speaker 1: ourselves and say that, you know, to play football, like,
8:37
Speaker 1: you know, you have to have a certain disposition about
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Speaker 1: yourself mentally kind of have to be in a in
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Speaker 1: a space where you can exercise discipline, grant focus, commitment
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Speaker 1: to subject yourselves physically uh to you know, uncomfortable situations
8:52
Speaker 1: over an extended period of time. So there is like
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Speaker 1: a development and you know, you learn to deal with
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Speaker 1: adversity and and failure so on, and so forth. But also, uh,
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Speaker 1: you know, there there can be like the hyper extension
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Speaker 1: of that, like those muscles can I guess we overdeveloped
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Speaker 1: and in other areas of your life they're underdeveloped right
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Speaker 1: around like asking for help, being emotionally vulnerable, uh, being
9:16
Speaker 1: comfortable with showing signs of like weakness and vulnerability. Like
9:20
Speaker 1: those were areas of my life where I didn't know
9:22
Speaker 1: how to do or how to function. Um And and
9:26
Speaker 1: it didn't really hit me until I was thirty one
9:28
Speaker 1: years old and I had to look myself in the
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Speaker 1: mirror and say, well, geez, Ryan, who are you when
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Speaker 1: you're not playing football and you're not running into somebody,
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Speaker 1: you're not tackling somebody? Like what does life look like
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Speaker 1: for you? Who are you when you're not doing that?
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Speaker 1: Because um, it can be all consuming, right, and your
9:44
Speaker 1: schedules laid out for you, uh start to finish. You
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Speaker 1: know exactly what you're doing Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
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Speaker 1: and Saturday and Sunday. So it's like this very regimented
9:54
Speaker 1: thing where like you kind of uh you know, you
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Speaker 1: get developed and you get on the program. Men in
10:00
Speaker 1: that program is very short lived, right, But the reality
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Speaker 1: is that during that time, like you're over developing certain
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Speaker 1: areas of your life and not providing enough attention to
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Speaker 1: others or life of your life specifically emotionally. Um, and
10:15
Speaker 1: so like that's where you know, we see and I
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Speaker 1: firmly believe around like a lot of the cautionary tales
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Speaker 1: that we see around like athletes specifically in transition, around
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Speaker 1: like bankruptcy, around like pervorce and other you know, like
10:30
Speaker 1: grim statistics. That's that's a mental health thing, that's a
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Speaker 1: mental well meaning and really figuring out how to feel
10:36
Speaker 1: that whole and how to feel that void in your life. Wow.
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Speaker 1: I mean there was so much said there that we
10:45
Speaker 1: said all across the board. Yeah, So when you get
10:50
Speaker 1: to that piece, because I think especially for men listening,
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Speaker 1: I think whether whether you are on an athletic path
10:57
Speaker 1: or not, there for many men in an adulthood coming
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Speaker 1: into like um, some of the different I guess pillars
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Speaker 1: of manhood as they begin to to show themselves, can
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Speaker 1: find that they are in front of the mirror in
11:14
Speaker 1: very much the same way asking that question. Like it's
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Speaker 1: really the society building around I think all males, this
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Speaker 1: idea that you're worth is found in providing your worth
11:23
Speaker 1: is found in quote unquote masculinity or in perceived strength.
11:28
Speaker 1: And then at a certain point, when you're actually living
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Speaker 1: your life, you start to really carefully look at what
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Speaker 1: is me and what is like forced beliefs placed on me?
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Speaker 1: What is the real me? And what is the conditioning
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Speaker 1: that I have? And so I think a lot of
11:43
Speaker 1: people maybe having that experience where they look in the
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Speaker 1: mirror and say, Okay, but who am I really outside
11:49
Speaker 1: of what I do for others, outside of how I
11:52
Speaker 1: may show up in the world, like as a man,
11:54
Speaker 1: what do I feel and how do I want to
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Speaker 1: feel it? How do you begin to unpacked that journey
12:01
Speaker 1: when you've had that reckoning with self? Yeah, for me, um,
12:06
Speaker 1: my journey started you know, probably at at at the
12:10
Speaker 1: bottom where it's like, you know, um, this whole concept
12:15
Speaker 1: of like reinventing myself. And I was literally like thrust
12:18
Speaker 1: and force into that journey. Um so speaking about my experience,
12:22
Speaker 1: like I could no longer play football, so I had
12:23
Speaker 1: to figure something out right, And that was like a
12:25
Speaker 1: very scary place for me to like be forced and
12:28
Speaker 1: thrust into an uncomfortable situation of like taking that journey
12:32
Speaker 1: in word for really like the first time probably in
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Speaker 1: a long time and maybe ever in my life because again,
12:37
Speaker 1: like football was just such a big, big part of that.
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Speaker 1: And again you talk about like the conditioning of such,
12:43
Speaker 1: like you know, we can get conditioned around like things
12:47
Speaker 1: that are short term, right, like famous fleeting, a career
12:52
Speaker 1: is fleeting. It's not really who you are. You really
12:54
Speaker 1: have to take that inward journey to figure out who
12:56
Speaker 1: the real self is. And I'll be it. I thought
12:59
Speaker 1: I was doing that, you know, by just kind of
13:01
Speaker 1: like fancying myself as like preparing for a life after uh,
13:06
Speaker 1: you know, like through educational opportunities and other like endeavors
13:09
Speaker 1: outside of football. It's a lot different when the rubber
13:12
Speaker 1: meets the road and you actually can't rely on that anymore, right,
13:16
Speaker 1: putting it into real practice, it's extremely difficult, and so
13:21
Speaker 1: like for the first time in my life at the
13:22
Speaker 1: age of how it was a thirty one, I had
13:27
Speaker 1: to look myself in the mirror and just honestly get
13:30
Speaker 1: comfortable with being uncomfortable and taking that journey inward and
13:33
Speaker 1: saying like all right, man, like I don't know who
13:36
Speaker 1: I am, Um, what am I going to do with
13:39
Speaker 1: the rest of my life. How am I going to
13:40
Speaker 1: when we talk about provider, how am I going to
13:42
Speaker 1: provide for my family? Right? Like the way that I
13:45
Speaker 1: made money, I can no longer do that anymore, So
13:47
Speaker 1: like what does that even look like? And then the
13:50
Speaker 1: the depression room of missing something that I had done
13:53
Speaker 1: for twenty four years in total, that's a big void
13:55
Speaker 1: to feel. You know, my whole world was built around football.
13:58
Speaker 1: I went to school for free because as a football
14:00
Speaker 1: like you know, I earned a living because of football,
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Speaker 1: house cars, like every My whole ecosystem was built around that.
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Speaker 1: Not only me, but we talk about like the impact
14:09
Speaker 1: that it has for like communities and family. My family,
14:12
Speaker 1: you know, it's been all across the country watching me
14:14
Speaker 1: play and had some amazing it lifelong memories as well.
14:18
Speaker 1: So like when you kind of put it into context,
14:21
Speaker 1: it's really really heavy and you feel like a lot
14:23
Speaker 1: of pressure to immediately jump into what's next and have
14:27
Speaker 1: that same level of success. But the reality is, you
14:31
Speaker 1: gotta break yourself down. You gotta get to that nitty gritty,
14:34
Speaker 1: You gotta take that journey in where you gotta look
14:36
Speaker 1: in the mirror. Uh, you gotta be willing to put
14:38
Speaker 1: in the work day in and day out, because just
14:40
Speaker 1: you know, I had to remind myself like just like
14:42
Speaker 1: it making it to the NFL was not an overnight success. Uh,
14:46
Speaker 1: this whole new chapter in my life is not like
14:48
Speaker 1: an overnight type proposition. It is about continuous growth and
14:52
Speaker 1: realizing that even when I do figure something out, there's
14:54
Speaker 1: always going to be like a new opportunity for me
14:56
Speaker 1: to grow and develop and just like honestly keep progressing
15:01
Speaker 1: and learning more about myself because you know, they say,
15:04
Speaker 1: like learning, you should never stop learning, right that starts
15:06
Speaker 1: with self. Never stop learning about yourself. And so that's
15:09
Speaker 1: what I really try to embrace on this new path
15:12
Speaker 1: moving forward and encourage a lot of men out there
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Speaker 1: to really evaluate like who you are and take that
15:19
Speaker 1: journey in where you know, and it doesn't have to
15:21
Speaker 1: be uh, you don't have to build roman a day.
15:23
Speaker 1: We'll just take one step at a time. What would
15:26
Speaker 1: like for men listening right now that are really relating
15:29
Speaker 1: to what you're saying, um or for partners of any
15:33
Speaker 1: men that could really benefit from this, what would you
15:36
Speaker 1: say are maybe three ways to begin that road inward
15:40
Speaker 1: as a man? Yeah, I would say, you know, just
15:43
Speaker 1: kind of taking a step back and that asking yourself
15:46
Speaker 1: like taking taking stock and saying, like where am I
15:49
Speaker 1: right now? Where am I right now? And you know,
15:53
Speaker 1: evaluating where you are right now, and how do you
15:55
Speaker 1: feel about where you are right now? Like what types
15:58
Speaker 1: of feelings emerge? Are you happy, are you disappointed? Whatever?
16:01
Speaker 1: It is like really taking inventory and stock of where
16:04
Speaker 1: you are right now and then using that that inventory
16:08
Speaker 1: or assessment to reflect back on how you got to
16:11
Speaker 1: this point right and really understanding like, okay, what got
16:14
Speaker 1: me in this situation? What got me into this position?
16:17
Speaker 1: And then also the last part is like having the
16:20
Speaker 1: belief in understanding that our future is in front of us,
16:23
Speaker 1: so we have the ability to shape our future on
16:25
Speaker 1: a daily basis, and our present is based off of
16:28
Speaker 1: our past decisions, and so like we're always in like
16:31
Speaker 1: this continuous cycle of like creating our future in real time.
16:35
Speaker 1: And so by assessing where you are currently and then
16:37
Speaker 1: taking stock of where you've been and how you got
16:39
Speaker 1: to this point, you are now better informed to cast
16:42
Speaker 1: a better future for yourself. And so you know, that's
16:45
Speaker 1: been my process throughout this whole journey. By by no
16:48
Speaker 1: means is it perfect, but it is definitely helpful. Again,
16:52
Speaker 1: on this whole learning journey that that is life dropping too.
17:01
Speaker 1: So tell me Ryan about alchemy. Yes, how did you
17:05
Speaker 1: go from that moment in the mirror where you were
17:08
Speaker 1: really taking stock of your life, finding the ways to
17:11
Speaker 1: unburden yourself but also to nourish and grow and expand
17:17
Speaker 1: your mental health and your internal world. You created an
17:21
Speaker 1: entire company that's a digital health platform in service to
17:25
Speaker 1: providing mental health for people. How did that happen? Yes,
17:29
Speaker 1: it's quite the journey, let me say that. So, So,
17:33
Speaker 1: after I retired from the NFL after eight seasons in UH,
17:38
Speaker 1: I had two paths. UH there was a personal path
17:41
Speaker 1: and a professional path, and so double clicking on a
17:43
Speaker 1: professional path, um, I immediately, you know, was like aggressively
17:48
Speaker 1: trying to figure out what was next for my life.
17:50
Speaker 1: And I talked a little bit about like those grim
17:53
Speaker 1: statistics around like bankruptcy, divorced, substance abuse, so on and
17:57
Speaker 1: so forth. I was determined not to be that person,
18:00
Speaker 1: and my way of not being that person was through education,
18:02
Speaker 1: and so I took advantage of a lot of educational opportunities,
18:06
Speaker 1: got my NBA while I was an active athlete, and
18:08
Speaker 1: was ready to put that into practice. And dive into
18:10
Speaker 1: business asapp Yeah, you know, I'm a well educated brother.
18:17
Speaker 1: I was, um, but yeah, that was definite. Yeah, that
18:21
Speaker 1: was just my way of kind of like, you know,
18:23
Speaker 1: de risking the situation because I had seen it time.
18:26
Speaker 1: It was like a cycle and it still is a
18:28
Speaker 1: very vicious cycle, like you know, uh, for both male
18:31
Speaker 1: and female athletes after that transition at the sport. It
18:35
Speaker 1: is true. Man, it's rough, right, And so my way
18:39
Speaker 1: of de risking that situation was to say, hey, like,
18:42
Speaker 1: let me educate myself about the world outside of sports, uh,
18:46
Speaker 1: and make sure that I'm prepared. And so I dove
18:47
Speaker 1: into venture capital and startups. Was primarily on the investment
18:51
Speaker 1: side for about two years, and then got off of
18:54
Speaker 1: that train and started one company in the eco friendly
18:57
Speaker 1: category called Swizzle. Did really well with that, but it
19:00
Speaker 1: was my opportunity to figure out like true entrepreneurship and
19:02
Speaker 1: fit sitting the founder seat. Long story short, we sold
19:06
Speaker 1: that business about a year ago as I prepared to
19:09
Speaker 1: scale up Alchemy because hobbeit, I love the environment and straws,
19:13
Speaker 1: I wanted to dive a little bit deeper into something
19:15
Speaker 1: that I was a little bit more passionate about and
19:16
Speaker 1: kind of fit me directionally and where I wanted to
19:19
Speaker 1: work on long term. And so that's you know, that's
19:22
Speaker 1: the professional path for me to alchemy. Now the personal
19:25
Speaker 1: path is where it really matters, right Like during this
19:28
Speaker 1: transition time of transition, as I mentioned, I was dealing
19:31
Speaker 1: with anxiety from trying to figure life out, how am
19:33
Speaker 1: I going to make money? Take care of myself? So
19:35
Speaker 1: and so for depression the whole night identity issues. And
19:38
Speaker 1: when I went into the marketplace to quote see a therapist,
19:41
Speaker 1: had a very bad experience. Um. You know, I got
19:44
Speaker 1: in front of providers, uh, and in professionals who weren't
19:48
Speaker 1: seeing me as Ryan Mundy, the husband, the black man,
19:51
Speaker 1: and the father, which is honestly where I needed the
19:54
Speaker 1: most support because now those areas of my life needed elevated. Uh.
19:58
Speaker 1: They were still looking at me and talking to me
19:59
Speaker 1: about Ryan Mondy the athlete, you know how much money
20:02
Speaker 1: I can make in you know, my position, and ask
20:04
Speaker 1: me about this. It was like, well, like what is
20:06
Speaker 1: that right here? Um? And and I went through about
20:10
Speaker 1: four or five different people before I found that that
20:13
Speaker 1: therapeutic alliance uh and that cultural confidency component kind of
20:17
Speaker 1: messed together ultimately help me on my healing journey. And also,
20:22
Speaker 1: I'm so glad you said that piece if we could
20:25
Speaker 1: stay reversed, because sometimes it is really this dance that
20:29
Speaker 1: you do to find the right person. And something I
20:32
Speaker 1: can never stress enough on this show or when I speak,
20:35
Speaker 1: is that you know, not everything is created equal the
20:38
Speaker 1: therapy community. Just like every other field of profession, there
20:44
Speaker 1: is excellent, there is mediocre or okay, and there is bad.
20:51
Speaker 1: You know, like a lot of people are great at
20:53
Speaker 1: study and they can get a degree in psychology, it
20:55
Speaker 1: doesn't mean that necessarily that is the person for you,
20:58
Speaker 1: or that you know they may have a certain set
21:01
Speaker 1: of skills necessary to unlock you or take you on
21:04
Speaker 1: this journey. And so it is easy to sometimes get
21:10
Speaker 1: a little a little frustrated or a little bit let down,
21:14
Speaker 1: where if you've created this appointment the therapist. I remember
21:17
Speaker 1: once I had went to see a therapist and she
21:19
Speaker 1: seemed great on paper. I get there and she forgot
21:22
Speaker 1: we had an appointment, and then she showed up like
21:25
Speaker 1: thirty five minutes late and then talked about herself the
21:28
Speaker 1: entire appointment. I was like, well, that's not a thing.
21:34
Speaker 1: But you know, I say that only to say I'm
21:36
Speaker 1: glad you brought that piece up, because we should also
21:40
Speaker 1: be in choice, like we are choosing to you know,
21:44
Speaker 1: we're not just at the mercy of the first person
21:46
Speaker 1: we happened to call. Listen to your gut, like it
21:49
Speaker 1: does this feel like it could be a nurturing and
21:51
Speaker 1: supportive relationship. So thank you for that. Yeah, it's really important.
21:56
Speaker 1: And thank you for for pausitive, because that is something
21:58
Speaker 1: that I tell people all the time time, Like, you know,
22:01
Speaker 1: all providers are not created equally, and there is definitely
22:04
Speaker 1: a smultrum. And so for us to even muster up
22:08
Speaker 1: the courts to even start that process to find somebody,
22:11
Speaker 1: and if you get in front of somebody and you
22:13
Speaker 1: have an experience like mine or you have an experienced
22:15
Speaker 1: like yours, it can be honestly deflating, like, oh man,
22:19
Speaker 1: it doesn't work, it's for me, so on and so forth. Um,
22:23
Speaker 1: this is why I knew I shouldn't apprompted. Yeah, you know,
22:26
Speaker 1: like I should to try this, like it creates a
22:29
Speaker 1: very bad expence, yea, the whole nine. And thankfully you know,
22:35
Speaker 1: I didn't adopt that attitude, but it does speak to
22:38
Speaker 1: like a greater issue within the health care system, you know,
22:43
Speaker 1: just around like availability of like confident professionals because again
22:47
Speaker 1: there's there's a spectrum in so like it leads to this, uh,
22:52
Speaker 1: this adverse selection within the category because all the quote
22:57
Speaker 1: good therapists are fully booked up, don't have any availability.
23:01
Speaker 1: And then so now you're left with you know the
23:04
Speaker 1: middle of the road or the end of the spectrum,
23:07
Speaker 1: the lower on the defectrum to kind of work through
23:09
Speaker 1: some like really complicated and serious issues. So it's it's
23:14
Speaker 1: pretty wonky, but that's a greater like health care system thing.
23:17
Speaker 1: But it is also like you know, one of the
23:19
Speaker 1: strong value props that we have at Alchemy. Um. But yeah,
23:23
Speaker 1: back to the to the journey and so like I
23:26
Speaker 1: was like all right, like you know, it took me
23:27
Speaker 1: a while to find my provider. And then also during
23:31
Speaker 1: this time, like my family was going through a laundry
23:33
Speaker 1: list of chronic disease and illness, uh type two diabetes, amputation,
23:38
Speaker 1: cardiovascular disease. My grandfather passed away from all Zeimer's and dementia,
23:44
Speaker 1: blood clots, stroke, heart attack, you name it. It was
23:48
Speaker 1: all kind of happening at once, and so here was
23:52
Speaker 1: my thought. I was like, you know, I'm going through
23:54
Speaker 1: what I'm going through. Um, and again, you know, I've
23:58
Speaker 1: been blessed and fortunate to have resources, and I'm still
24:01
Speaker 1: having issues. Uh, So imagine what's going on on like
24:05
Speaker 1: the south and west side of Detroit, the north side
24:07
Speaker 1: of Pittsburgh, east side of the you know, the east
24:10
Speaker 1: side of Detroit. Like what is happening in these communities
24:12
Speaker 1: who really really need to help in the cultural competency.
24:15
Speaker 1: There's a huge access barrier. And then also too with
24:19
Speaker 1: you know, my family's physical conditions. Um, you know, they
24:22
Speaker 1: were going what they were going through as well. And
24:24
Speaker 1: I just asked one simple question, like who's principally focused
24:28
Speaker 1: on the trajectory of black health? Like I'm going through
24:30
Speaker 1: what I'm I was going to through what they're going through. Again. Professionally,
24:33
Speaker 1: I was in the startup ecosystem seeing ideas come to
24:36
Speaker 1: life and get funded, uh and go out there and
24:39
Speaker 1: change the world. But I didn't see anybody doing this.
24:41
Speaker 1: And I was like, well, this is problematic. We are
24:45
Speaker 1: the most influential community globally and we are also i
24:49
Speaker 1: mean one of the most at risk and sickest communities globally.
24:53
Speaker 1: There's a huge imbalance there and so with that in mind,
24:57
Speaker 1: you know, I started Alchemy with the mission U and
25:00
Speaker 1: goal to become the universal health care provider for the
25:02
Speaker 1: Black community. And we are rooting that mission in mental health.
25:06
Speaker 1: Wow wow wow wow. Thank you, thank you, thanks, thank you,
25:12
Speaker 1: thank you for doing the work. Um, and that's what
25:15
Speaker 1: I know, Like if there's a ton of people out
25:17
Speaker 1: here doing some amazing work, so we are all in
25:20
Speaker 1: this together. So tell me how does Alchemy work? How
25:24
Speaker 1: would someone connect with Alchemy and be able to get
25:27
Speaker 1: their needs met? Yeah, So kind of going back to
25:29
Speaker 1: this whole notion around access. You know, I thought long
25:32
Speaker 1: and hard around like all right, we're gonna start, you know,
25:35
Speaker 1: our company focusing on mental health, but exactly what does
25:39
Speaker 1: that look like? And we've talked a little bit around
25:41
Speaker 1: like the access bears as relates to actually getting in
25:44
Speaker 1: front of a professional. Uh, finding a professional is really
25:48
Speaker 1: really difficult. But then on top of that, if you
25:50
Speaker 1: find somebody, it's really expensive to kind of get in
25:53
Speaker 1: person therapy. You know, on average it's gonna cost over
25:56
Speaker 1: a hundred bucks. Uh. That's inaccessible for a lot of
25:59
Speaker 1: it workans and particularly compounded for our community. Uh, there's
26:03
Speaker 1: geographic constraints. You know, you're you may not have a
26:06
Speaker 1: competent provider in your area. There's time constraints. We all
26:10
Speaker 1: got life going on. So we like when we we
26:12
Speaker 1: put all these access bearers into a bucket, it makes
26:14
Speaker 1: it really really hard for people UH to get the
26:17
Speaker 1: help that they need. And so with all this in mind,
26:19
Speaker 1: I was like, all right, how do we democratize access?
26:23
Speaker 1: You know, we create content around it, because the reality
26:25
Speaker 1: is this is how the the care spectrum currently shows up.
26:29
Speaker 1: It's like, you know, I'm dealing with stigmas personally, and
26:33
Speaker 1: then you know, I may talk to my friends and
26:35
Speaker 1: then I'm going to Instagram to find some like comfort
26:37
Speaker 1: from you know, some memes, so on and so forth.
26:39
Speaker 1: But after that, the next step on the road is
26:42
Speaker 1: like go see a therapist. That's a big in in
26:45
Speaker 1: a lot of times. You know, therapy seems like the
26:48
Speaker 1: starting point and the endpoint. It's like, well how is
26:50
Speaker 1: that possible? Um? And so like I thought around, like,
26:55
Speaker 1: all right, how do we kind of create like a
26:56
Speaker 1: more palatable on ramp UH to provide our key we
27:00
Speaker 1: need to take agency over their own health and wealthy.
27:03
Speaker 1: So basically, you know, we create a live stream and
27:07
Speaker 1: on demand video therapy sessions led by black practitioners and
27:11
Speaker 1: respected experts and wellness UH talking about you know, topics
27:15
Speaker 1: that are specific to our community, you know, such as
27:18
Speaker 1: like intergenerational trauma, systemic racism, microaggressions in the workplace, so
27:23
Speaker 1: on and so forth. We're really able to like double
27:26
Speaker 1: click and tap on too, like mental health through the
27:29
Speaker 1: Black experience through our lives stream and video therapy sessions.
27:32
Speaker 1: And then we also which are called labs by the way,
27:34
Speaker 1: and then we also have like an audio first product
27:37
Speaker 1: which we call ways UM, which include like guided meditations,
27:41
Speaker 1: sound bath exercises, body scans, the whole nine, but like
27:46
Speaker 1: in an audio format. And so again, thinking about just
27:50
Speaker 1: like how we consume content, thinking about how you know
27:54
Speaker 1: the world is functioning currently, content UH seemed to be
27:58
Speaker 1: the right starting point for us UH to democratize access
28:02
Speaker 1: and empower our community. And we make this all available
28:06
Speaker 1: on our mobile app, which will be launching the second
28:09
Speaker 1: week of January. So really excited about that. Wow, that
28:13
Speaker 1: is so powerful. That is so powerful. I have had
28:17
Speaker 1: the chance to see some of your content from someone
28:19
Speaker 1: who I love and have had on this show, Dr
28:21
Speaker 1: Mary o'blckay got out to Dr Mariel such an amazing
28:26
Speaker 1: woman and such a powerful, powerful, powerful therapist, healer, guide
28:32
Speaker 1: so many things. Um, and I love the way that
28:35
Speaker 1: she really shares healing and shares her wisdom and depth
28:40
Speaker 1: of knowledge. So I've loved seeing the stuff that you
28:42
Speaker 1: guys have collaborated on and done together. Yeah, it's um
28:46
Speaker 1: you know, it's like literally the representation around like democratizing access,
28:50
Speaker 1: Like how would you gain that type of access to
28:54
Speaker 1: like a professional like Dr Mario. You can't get on
28:57
Speaker 1: her schedule like for in person, but like how can
28:59
Speaker 1: we take her knowledge, take her experience and bring healing
29:04
Speaker 1: to the culture. And so that's what we're about. So
29:08
Speaker 1: tell me, as you've been on this journey of mental health,
29:11
Speaker 1: what have you noticed as some of the really tangible
29:17
Speaker 1: new ways of being that you've created for yourself? Like
29:20
Speaker 1: what have you really seen actively as like a benefit
29:23
Speaker 1: or a nourishment in your life? For me personally, it's
29:30
Speaker 1: just myself the freedom to be me. Yeah, yeah, you
29:39
Speaker 1: can double click on that. Yeah, yeah, I could definitely
29:45
Speaker 1: double click on that. Um. You know, like again kind
29:49
Speaker 1: of being in the world that I was in for
29:51
Speaker 1: a long time, like you feel like you have to
29:54
Speaker 1: kind of fit a certain mold or fit a certain profile,
29:57
Speaker 1: say the right things, so on and so forth. Um,
30:02
Speaker 1: I don't want to do that anymore. I just want
30:04
Speaker 1: to be me. Sometimes there's like some conflict from things
30:07
Speaker 1: I want to say or things that I want to do. Um. Well,
30:11
Speaker 1: previously things I want to say and things I want
30:13
Speaker 1: to do, and like you know, what was best for
30:15
Speaker 1: the team or what what X, Y and Z things
30:17
Speaker 1: about those things anymore? Right, Um, that would be the
30:21
Speaker 1: most important development for me. Is just like, man, I'm
30:25
Speaker 1: just tired and I don't want to have to act
30:28
Speaker 1: like I have to be a certain way because people
30:31
Speaker 1: think I should be a certain way. I'm being me
30:35
Speaker 1: every day all day. Uh. And that has been very
30:40
Speaker 1: free and empowering. I love that so much. The way
30:44
Speaker 1: that I relate to that, uh and that has been
30:46
Speaker 1: one of my favorite, most powerful take on for myself
30:53
Speaker 1: and my journey too. It's like the way that I
30:55
Speaker 1: relate to that, I always say like I don't want
30:56
Speaker 1: to perform. I don't want to perform for anyone, and
30:59
Speaker 1: I don't want to be anyone else's audience, you know,
31:02
Speaker 1: Like I don't want to get wrangled into fitting anyone
31:06
Speaker 1: else's belief system or comfort level about how I should
31:10
Speaker 1: be received, or how I should behave, or how I
31:12
Speaker 1: should think. And then I also don't want to be
31:14
Speaker 1: held hostage to playing a role in someone else's performance.
31:18
Speaker 1: Just being your most authentic self, how do I feel
31:21
Speaker 1: in this moment? That is my top priority? And I
31:24
Speaker 1: think that kind of you know, we're we're explaining it
31:27
Speaker 1: as being able to be our authentic selves and not
31:30
Speaker 1: being performance. And I think it's also what the root
31:33
Speaker 1: of you know, the idea of being self sovereign is
31:35
Speaker 1: the idea of being your own ruler, having full ownership
31:39
Speaker 1: and command of yourself. Um, but also will doing that
31:42
Speaker 1: with a grace and with a kindness, but being fully
31:45
Speaker 1: you because you deserve to be. Yeah, that's what I
31:49
Speaker 1: lean into. And I think, you know, I really resonate
31:52
Speaker 1: with like fullness and kindness too, right because just because
31:56
Speaker 1: you know, you start to take agency over yourself and
31:58
Speaker 1: how you're feeling, does not mean you need to be
32:00
Speaker 1: an asshole to everybody, Uh, you know, and I think
32:03
Speaker 1: some sometimes we don't don't. Yeah, you need some examples
32:08
Speaker 1: of some over indexing on I'm gonna be me. I
32:11
Speaker 1: got it. Um yeah, Like I'm comfortable in my own
32:14
Speaker 1: skin now, right, and I feel good about like who
32:18
Speaker 1: Ryan Mundy is as a man and a human being
32:22
Speaker 1: and how he shows up in the world and and
32:25
Speaker 1: just kind of living my truth right like you know,
32:28
Speaker 1: even like in discussions like this, and we talked about
32:30
Speaker 1: it a little bit before we got started, Like you know,
32:33
Speaker 1: a lot of prep work is not necessary for me
32:36
Speaker 1: to do things like this because I just get up
32:37
Speaker 1: there and tell my truth and I'm okay with that.
32:39
Speaker 1: Like I just live and speak on my experience. Um.
32:43
Speaker 1: And for that, you know, I don't have to I
32:45
Speaker 1: don't have to worry about it. I say the right
32:47
Speaker 1: thing or so on and so forth, because me and
32:49
Speaker 1: I've sleep very good at night knowing that. M M.
32:53
Speaker 1: How have you seen a positive influence or any shiftings
32:57
Speaker 1: and maybe the way that your parent or you relate
32:59
Speaker 1: to your partner. That's a lot. But I think from
33:07
Speaker 1: how my parent you know, it's definitely been an evolution. Um.
33:11
Speaker 1: I love my parents dearly and with every fiber in
33:14
Speaker 1: my bone. But what I do know is it's like
33:16
Speaker 1: just parenting in general, Like nothing is perfect, right, there
33:19
Speaker 1: are good experiences there are bad experiences, so always kind
33:23
Speaker 1: of keeping that in context as well. UM has definitely
33:27
Speaker 1: shaped my parenting. But after you know, I went through this,
33:32
Speaker 1: I guess kind of awakening if you will. UM, you know,
33:35
Speaker 1: just started to be a lot more mindful about what
33:37
Speaker 1: I'm saying to my children, how I'm interacting with my children,
33:40
Speaker 1: the time that I'm spending with my children, particularly because
33:43
Speaker 1: i have two girls. Uh you know, it's like I'm around,
33:46
Speaker 1: I'm raising two black women essentially, right, and so being
33:49
Speaker 1: very mindful and cognizant of how I show up as
33:52
Speaker 1: a black man in the household is really really important,
33:55
Speaker 1: right because I'm literally setting the example in the context
33:58
Speaker 1: for like what you know with black men in the world,
34:02
Speaker 1: like and how they see and view black men. And
34:04
Speaker 1: that's personally very important to me because I think a
34:07
Speaker 1: lot of times black men as a whole, you know,
34:10
Speaker 1: we don't always have we don't always have like the
34:12
Speaker 1: best representation or the best you know, UM, like stereotypes
34:16
Speaker 1: out there about us, and so like taking out with
34:20
Speaker 1: full force. But as it relates to my wife, you know,
34:22
Speaker 1: I think UM in that regard as well, you know,
34:25
Speaker 1: just trying to be more open, trying to communicate better,
34:28
Speaker 1: and again we talked about it like, look, this is
34:30
Speaker 1: what I'm thinking and this is how I'm feeling. I
34:32
Speaker 1: have to do a better job of like actually articulating that, Um.
34:36
Speaker 1: But the notion of just like kind of being open
34:39
Speaker 1: about how I'm feeling and what I'm thinking has definitely,
34:42
Speaker 1: you know, shown through, And I think it's beneficial for
34:45
Speaker 1: us both dropping to when we think about creating our
35:05
Speaker 1: family structures, when we think about ways that we may
35:08
Speaker 1: want to show up differently in our households. You know,
35:12
Speaker 1: this is new for so many of us. So many
35:14
Speaker 1: of the words that we're even using in this interview
35:16
Speaker 1: are its new language for us as a society, but
35:20
Speaker 1: especially within our inner personal relationships, and so so much
35:24
Speaker 1: of it does take practice and reinforcement, you know, Ryan,
35:28
Speaker 1: I think for many of us, um, real true awakening
35:35
Speaker 1: has happened on this planet in a way that it
35:37
Speaker 1: hasn't before. And I think that there is this this
35:41
Speaker 1: emphasis energetically on generational healing and ancestral healing, and I
35:47
Speaker 1: think there's so much energy available to us in this
35:49
Speaker 1: moment to do it, and to do it with acceleration
35:52
Speaker 1: and with grace and with ease and so it's just
35:55
Speaker 1: it's it's so beautiful because I feel like we're all
35:58
Speaker 1: practicing with each other things that have never been known
36:01
Speaker 1: to us as humans in this way before you know,
36:04
Speaker 1: we are empathy. There's this mass movement of empathy happening
36:11
Speaker 1: in this world. This this movement of communication of language,
36:15
Speaker 1: and especially for black and brown households, this hasn't been
36:20
Speaker 1: allowed like this. Where has there even been the time
36:23
Speaker 1: to add more language to our experiences, time to nurture yourself,
36:27
Speaker 1: to care, time to really lean into as active parents, like, oh,
36:31
Speaker 1: what is our one on one relationship look like? Is
36:34
Speaker 1: their opportunity for it to feel even better, you know,
36:38
Speaker 1: even more nourishing, even more supportive. So it's like, I
36:41
Speaker 1: just I want to I say that for all of
36:44
Speaker 1: us really, um, but it's like we're all kind of
36:47
Speaker 1: doing this for the first time anyway. I mean, the
36:50
Speaker 1: reality is, you know, we're all figuring it out, Like
36:55
Speaker 1: we are figuring things out in real time, not only
36:57
Speaker 1: as it relates to just like our total health and
37:00
Speaker 1: well being, um, just life in general. You know, we
37:03
Speaker 1: talked about like being a parent, it's my first time
37:07
Speaker 1: raising the nine year old or a ten year old like,
37:09
Speaker 1: so they're development, Like I'm always learning and growing and
37:12
Speaker 1: figuring it. Yeah, this is my first time being in
37:16
Speaker 1: a tenure marriage. Like I need to learn. I need
37:18
Speaker 1: to We're always figuring it out. Um. And so like
37:23
Speaker 1: I definitely lean into that, UM as much as I
37:27
Speaker 1: possibly can. But you said something that struck me and
37:29
Speaker 1: I thought was really interesting, just kind of with this awakening,
37:33
Speaker 1: if you will, um, and then understanding like how fast
37:37
Speaker 1: things seem to be moving around us, like technology development,
37:40
Speaker 1: so on and so forth. Sometimes you know, we can
37:44
Speaker 1: get down the path of thinking that like the healing
37:47
Speaker 1: or the work is going to happen overnight, and it
37:49
Speaker 1: is not. It is a journey, um. And we didn't
37:52
Speaker 1: get to this point overnight, and we're not gonna turn
37:55
Speaker 1: you know, we could face it, we could face a
37:57
Speaker 1: new direction, but we still have to take their appropriate
38:00
Speaker 1: steps to get to a different destination. And so you know,
38:04
Speaker 1: I just always remind folks that it is not an
38:07
Speaker 1: overnight type thing. Um. We could change our direction any
38:11
Speaker 1: time that we want, but in order to get to
38:13
Speaker 1: a new place in that destination, we have to continue
38:15
Speaker 1: to put one foot in front of the next on
38:17
Speaker 1: a daily basis. Yeah, And and that's the thank you
38:21
Speaker 1: for saying that, because that really is the thing about
38:23
Speaker 1: the journey like one and never ends, Like as long
38:25
Speaker 1: as you're alive, you will be on a journey. There
38:27
Speaker 1: will be an evolution of source available to us in
38:31
Speaker 1: each moment. But I think, especially when we and especially
38:35
Speaker 1: as we as people of color, when we think of
38:37
Speaker 1: healing for ourselves, something we really it could really behoove
38:41
Speaker 1: us to keep at the front of our mind is
38:43
Speaker 1: the fact that biologically, neurologically, we are re building new
38:51
Speaker 1: neurological pathways in our brains as we are healing. And
38:56
Speaker 1: so that's why sometimes we encounter what we are perceiveing
39:00
Speaker 1: bean as um maybe sliding back or maybe you know, oh,
39:04
Speaker 1: I thought I'd moved past acting like that or going
39:07
Speaker 1: off like that, or I thought I thought I'd moved
39:10
Speaker 1: past that and healed that already. Right right, Ryan just
39:13
Speaker 1: raised his hand and it's like, yes, you did, and
39:19
Speaker 1: you created room for now another layer of that same piece,
39:24
Speaker 1: another perspective to that same piece, to deepen in the healing,
39:28
Speaker 1: to come into mastery, but also the perceived sliding back.
39:32
Speaker 1: And I really want to stress this because this is
39:34
Speaker 1: probably the hardest part of the journey is staying on it.
39:41
Speaker 1: The pieces. When it feels like you're sliding back, it's
39:44
Speaker 1: just those grooves. They're actually formed in our brains. Are
39:48
Speaker 1: thought patterns create real physical grooves in our brains. That
39:54
Speaker 1: the way that we feel, the way that we emote,
39:56
Speaker 1: the way that we relate, it flows in that groove
39:59
Speaker 1: like river, and the water sometimes keeps finding it because
40:02
Speaker 1: it's used to it. But as we heal, we're building
40:06
Speaker 1: different grooves that are paved with gold. I want to say,
40:11
Speaker 1: with different groups that are you know, they're paved with
40:14
Speaker 1: the more serving language. UM, with the removal of limiting beliefs,
40:20
Speaker 1: the removal of trauma. And that takes time. It took
40:24
Speaker 1: you your whole life up until this moment to create
40:27
Speaker 1: those little canyons in your brain, those grooves, those pathways,
40:31
Speaker 1: and so it does take repetitive action and time, but
40:34
Speaker 1: also a gentleness to build in your whole new system.
40:38
Speaker 1: And it will come. It always comes. It will come.
40:42
Speaker 1: We just have to stay in practice. Yeah, No, I
40:46
Speaker 1: love that. UM. I had to actually write that down
40:49
Speaker 1: because I was very profound. The hardest part of the
40:51
Speaker 1: of the journey is staying in it, and that is
40:53
Speaker 1: one thousand percent true. So thank you so much for
40:56
Speaker 1: sharing that, because really, like when I think about my
41:00
Speaker 1: entire life, um, the hardest part has just been making
41:04
Speaker 1: sure that you don't give up right when times get hard,
41:07
Speaker 1: when difficulty, um shows up, when adversity shows up, like
41:12
Speaker 1: staying the course is always the hardest part um and
41:17
Speaker 1: something that you know when we talk about like the
41:19
Speaker 1: transition and kind of pulling because it wasn't all bad,
41:22
Speaker 1: right like the the NFL. Uh. It taught me a
41:26
Speaker 1: lot of things and it taught me around most importantly
41:29
Speaker 1: around like resilience, uh to kinda again be comfortable and
41:34
Speaker 1: uncomfortable situations and knowing how to you know, not immediately
41:39
Speaker 1: jets it after things get difficult, um, but kind of
41:42
Speaker 1: with that too. Is always this thing around like just
41:45
Speaker 1: performance and thinking that everything has to be here, you know,
41:49
Speaker 1: at the top every time. Uh. So definitely learning to
41:52
Speaker 1: be a lot more gracious with myself along the way,
41:55
Speaker 1: uh and understanding that again it is it's a marathon.
42:00
Speaker 1: Mm hm m words admit that it is. Ryan, Thank
42:06
Speaker 1: you so so so so much. Before I let you
42:10
Speaker 1: go from the show, I would love if you could
42:12
Speaker 1: share just a glimpse of what your personal self care
42:16
Speaker 1: practice looks like or spiritual practice. What are some of
42:19
Speaker 1: the things you do just for yourself? Yeah, let do
42:26
Speaker 1: I start, uh? And I will really say that I
42:29
Speaker 1: need to always remind myself to consistently stay on that track. Right.
42:33
Speaker 1: So I don't want people to think that just because
42:36
Speaker 1: you know, I started this wellness company, everything is perfect. No,
42:39
Speaker 1: we all have our struggles, right, and so I just
42:42
Speaker 1: want to add that discrip. I mean it's the same thing, right,
42:46
Speaker 1: Like you know, people thought, you know, everything is great
42:48
Speaker 1: because you're an athlete, not always a case. Right now
42:51
Speaker 1: you're run this mental health company, Like, I still deal
42:53
Speaker 1: with a bunch of stuff too, right, and so but
42:55
Speaker 1: how I maintain myself, Um, you know, definitely physical exercise.
43:00
Speaker 1: That's what my whole life has been built on, right,
43:02
Speaker 1: So I still try to pake before I go to
43:03
Speaker 1: the gym regularly. I have my peloton uh in which
43:07
Speaker 1: I ride and tried to get on at least four
43:10
Speaker 1: or five times throughout the week. So anything like physically related,
43:14
Speaker 1: I definitely try to make sure that I work in
43:16
Speaker 1: because my bones physically, I'm just getting older and then
43:19
Speaker 1: wear and tear that you know. Twenty four years of
43:21
Speaker 1: football is taking on my body. I'm starting to feel
43:23
Speaker 1: a little bit right, um, So definitely making sure that
43:27
Speaker 1: I take care of myself physically. But then also you know,
43:29
Speaker 1: I have a few meditation apps on my phone, uh
43:32
Speaker 1: primarily Alchemy, which I'm using, but you know some other
43:36
Speaker 1: like apps that I've had before I started the company
43:39
Speaker 1: that I still kind of refer back to. UM But yeah, meditation,
43:43
Speaker 1: mindfulness practices. I'm really starting to um incorporate yoga a
43:49
Speaker 1: little bit more. My body has always been designed or
43:53
Speaker 1: in in condition to do like the extreme workout like
43:56
Speaker 1: squat amount of weight, you know, bitch pressed this amount
43:59
Speaker 1: of weight, as I mentioned, Like, I don't necessarily need
44:02
Speaker 1: to do that anymore. I just need to feel good
44:04
Speaker 1: and also making sure that there's a strong mind and
44:07
Speaker 1: body connection still there. And so so far yoga has
44:11
Speaker 1: been a really interesting way for me to to maintain
44:14
Speaker 1: that practice. And then the last piece, Um, I try
44:18
Speaker 1: to spend as much time as I can outside like
44:21
Speaker 1: that just gives me enjoy, you know, like sunny days,
44:25
Speaker 1: rolling the window down, you know, having some wind hit
44:28
Speaker 1: my face like that for me is a form of
44:31
Speaker 1: self care where I could just kind of decompress, get
44:34
Speaker 1: away from the world, you know, not be dad, not
44:36
Speaker 1: be husband, not be CEO. Just kind of just like
44:40
Speaker 1: I'm here and I'm relaxing for a sec Um that
44:43
Speaker 1: above all, I think is most important for me right now.
44:48
Speaker 1: So beautiful, So relate to that. Like if I every
44:53
Speaker 1: chance I get every time that I can, I'm like,
44:56
Speaker 1: let me feel sun on my skin, and that is
44:58
Speaker 1: how I feel my BA I needed one thousand percent,
45:03
Speaker 1: and particularly as I get older. Um, you know, and
45:06
Speaker 1: I've been very fortunate to even in privilege and make
45:09
Speaker 1: the statement, but like cool weather's a choice sometimes and
45:13
Speaker 1: you know I I choose even though I'm based in Chicago. Um,
45:17
Speaker 1: you know, just still realizing that, uh, it's not always
45:20
Speaker 1: sunny and warm here, so I need to kind of
45:22
Speaker 1: a purse for me to make sure that I'm I'm
45:24
Speaker 1: feeling good mentally and physically. Yo. It's so funny everyone,
45:29
Speaker 1: because as Ryan and I got on our YEAH system today, Um,
45:36
Speaker 1: the first thing we were talking about is I was like, oh,
45:38
Speaker 1: how's it going, and he was like, you know what's good.
45:41
Speaker 1: It's it's actually fifty degrees in Chicago. So like I'm
45:43
Speaker 1: feeling great and I'm feeling thankful. Yeah, and it's sunny out, like,
45:47
Speaker 1: sign me up every day the week, give me some
45:49
Speaker 1: sunshine and I'll be good to go. And then my
45:52
Speaker 1: response was like, interesting because today in Los Angeles it's
45:56
Speaker 1: fifty degrees and I almost kept my son home from
45:58
Speaker 1: school because I thought it was too cold to be
46:00
Speaker 1: helpside perceptible relative. I know, right, whatever works for you,
46:10
Speaker 1: you know you gotta go for it, same thing, whatever
46:13
Speaker 1: you need to get what you need. Yeah, yes, yes, Ryan,
46:19
Speaker 1: thank you so much. I highly highly recommend that everyone
46:23
Speaker 1: check out the amazing work that Ryan Mundy is doing
46:25
Speaker 1: and please check out Alchemy. They are on Instagram, you
46:29
Speaker 1: can get the app on your phone. They have already
46:32
Speaker 1: raised four point six million dollars to bring mental health
46:35
Speaker 1: resources to the black community. There are videos there that
46:39
Speaker 1: that you can learn from, there are meditations you can
46:42
Speaker 1: be guided in, and there is a way to connect
46:44
Speaker 1: you to someone that can help serve your needs in
46:47
Speaker 1: this moment in your area on the app. Ryan, thank
46:51
Speaker 1: you so much, Thank you so much to be really
46:53
Speaker 1: excited about the opportunity that we have ahead, and thank
46:57
Speaker 1: you so much for the work that you do as well. Grateful,
47:03
Speaker 1: big thank you to Ryan Munday for joining the show
47:05
Speaker 1: and a huge thank you for answering your life's call,
47:08
Speaker 1: your mission work and bringing such powerful, powerful tools and
47:13
Speaker 1: work into the world into fruition. Highly recommend that you
47:18
Speaker 1: connect with Ryan. You can join his instagram at Ryan Mundy,
47:22
Speaker 1: where you can check out Alchemy. Go to the instagram
47:25
Speaker 1: at Alchemy and please go to Alchemy health dot com
47:30
Speaker 1: for more info and the app will be available depending
47:32
Speaker 1: on when you hear this episode at the top of
47:35
Speaker 1: January twenty two, So for us right now that it's
47:39
Speaker 1: just a few weeks away, highly recommend. All right, everyone,
47:43
Speaker 1: big love, catch me next week, no mistay. Hey find
47:48
Speaker 1: me on social Let's connect at Debbie Brown. That's Twitter
47:52
Speaker 1: and Instagram, or go to my website Debbie Brown dot com.
47:56
Speaker 1: And if you're listening to the show on Apple Podcasts,
47:58
Speaker 1: please please please don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe
48:06
Speaker 1: and send this episode to a friend. Dropping Jams is
48:09
Speaker 1: the production of I Heart Radio and The Black Effect Network.
48:12
Speaker 1: It's produced by Jack Queas and me Debbie Brown. For
48:15
Speaker 1: more podcasts from My Heart Radio, visit the I heart
48:18
Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
48:22
Speaker 1: favorite shows.