Latest / Age Defiantly with Mark Young / [Bonus Episode] Ancient Healing for Modern Women | Katie Silcox
Transcript
- 0:00Welcome to Performance Driven Living, the podcast where we question everything.
- 0:05We don't tip to around tough topics, we walk right into them, not to provoke, but to
- 0:11get closer to what's real.
- 0:13You might not agree with everything you hear, and that's okay.
- 0:17The show isn't about being right, it's about being real.
- 0:20These conversations are meant to stretch your thinking, challenge assumptions, and spark
- 0:25something deeper.
- 0:26The views shared are those of our guests and may not reflect those of the host or team.
- 0:32And while we dive deep into health, performance, and transformation, this is not medical advice.
- 0:38Talk to your doctor before making changes to your health or lifestyle.
- 0:42Take what lands, leave what doesn't, but whatever you do, don't stop questioning.
- 0:50We hear with another episode of Performance Driven Living, and this one's going to be a
- 1:00little bit different than usual, because usually I'm talking to somebody because I'm questioning
- 1:06everything there is to know about the world.
- 1:08But today we've actually set this up a little bit different, and that is I am joined by
- 1:13my friend and beautiful soul and host of Spirit Sessions podcast, Katie Silcox.
- 1:20And I've known Katie for years now, and just I have to tell you, like few people, I'm
- 1:25high energy, and I mean this all super serious, because I'm talking to Katie here too, because
- 1:29I've not said this to her, that is I'm like a high energy, like I feed off of a crowd.
- 1:35And Katie's one of those people that when I spend any time around her, my soul calms
- 1:39down.
- 1:40And I mean that, and that's a true compliment to you, Katie, because not a lot of things
- 1:46actually balance me, but when I spend time around you, I find myself matching your energy.
- 1:53And that, I mean, that's such a huge compliment to you, because like I said, I'm a bit of a
- 1:57spaz, but, but yeah, you calm me down, why are you, well thank you, and I'm so happy
- 2:05we're having this conversation because without knowing it, Mark, you, you really touched
- 2:11into the essence of everything that I care about, which is how can we come into harmony
- 2:16with one another and, and with ourselves, and here we are, I'm a woman, you're a man,
- 2:21and we've kind of forgotten this inner balance between the masculine and the feminine, and
- 2:26if in any way I can be in your life that mirror of, of calm, of sweetness, of groundedness,
- 2:33that is a gift that I have learned how to give myself, because I'm actually a spaz too,
- 2:39I'm a recovering spaz, and you know, I was telling a dear, dear mentor of mine the other
- 2:45day, I feel like I'm usually one of the most calm grounding people in the group, and that's
- 2:52a huge shift, and so people can change.
- 2:57You know, I gotta say, I love that, and, and we're doing like this, this joint podcast
- 3:03here where like you're on my podcast, and I'm on yours at the same time, which is super
- 3:07cool, because we don't do that very often, but this is actually even cooler to me, because
- 3:13you're talking about masculine and feminine energy here, and what's funny is I was just
- 3:17talking with a friend of mine the other day, a woman who's a, who's a very much a woman
- 3:23in a man's world kind of person, works in politics, so on, so forth, and we were having
- 3:28this conversation about, you know, men opening the door, and it actually, it started over
- 3:34a woman driving a car with a man in the passenger seat, and I, and I commented, I was like,
- 3:39I don't know why, maybe it's sexist, but that's weird to me, right?
- 3:42And she's like, I agree, and, and I was like, I don't know, it just feels weird to me,
- 3:48and she's like, no, I agree with you, and she's like, I'm a woman who spends my time
- 3:52in a man's world, and I've got a bubble, bubble, she goes, and I wear pink all the time,
- 3:57and I love dressing up, and I've bubble, and she, she really goes into this, but I need
- 4:02to make sure that I live in feminine energy, and spend my time around men that spend their
- 4:08time in masculine energy, and this, and this idea, and I said, you know, for me, I have
- 4:14to be in a place where, you know, holding a door for a woman was just ingrained in me as
- 4:19a child, like it's reflex at this point, it's not even a conscious thought.
- 4:23Well, and on behalf of the women of the world, I would say that the majority of us really
- 4:28like that, and appreciate it. And, you know, Mark, I think you'll find this super interesting,
- 4:34and maybe our listeners as well, and, and so I've studied this tantric form of spirituality
- 4:40for over 20 years, and one of the things that tantra says is that, and I, and I think it helps
- 4:44the conversation, we have this hand gesture, we do a lot in our, in our school of like duality,
- 4:50right, right, and left, right, you've got both, and usually I hold it out wider, but you can't
- 4:55see that on the screen. And we're in these conversations of like, do I hold the door open?
- 5:00Do I not? Do I drive the car? Do I not? Is it right? Is it wrong? Should men do this? Should
- 5:04women do this? And tantra comes in and says, most of us have three parts masculine, two parts
- 5:12feminine, if we're a man, but not all of us. And most of us, if we're a woman, have three parts
- 5:18feminine, two parts masculine, but not all of us, right? And so this, this deep understanding of
- 5:24the dual nature of our masculine and feminine helps us navigate this really difficult world,
- 5:31where I think so many women that come to the Shakti school are like, I really like for a man to be
- 5:37protective and providing and gentlemanly and chivalrous. And I want my own bank account,
- 5:44I want to do my career. And so I think having that kind of nuanced conversation where we don't
- 5:49throw the baby out with the bathwater is super important because so many women really value
- 5:56their feminine and so many men really value their masculine, but we need the maturation of both.
- 6:04Well, and you used two words there that literally I was going to say before we
- 6:10switched to you started talking was like, the words protector and provider. And literally,
- 6:17that's how I see myself like it doesn't matter who's in the room. I'm here to make sure that
- 6:22they're protected and it doesn't matter who's at the table. It's my job to provide it. And I think
- 6:29that that energy goes a long way and and I love what you're talking about in terms of that
- 6:35confusion of energy and it's like most people I think resonate with that. And there are some that
- 6:40don't and that's fine. But sometimes I think we're letting the outliers make the rules.
- 6:45Right. Totally. And the key word too that I learned from one of my mentors in in Jungian psychology,
- 6:52he said, you know, Carl Jung understood that all of us have this inner masculine feminine and we
- 6:57all need to work to mature it. And so we could talk about like what does the immature feminine and
- 7:03immature masculine look like? You can hold a door open for me. But if you as a man are not able to
- 7:09happen to the depth of your own heart, then you're not a mature man. You're just doing the outer
- 7:15trappings of the provider and the protector. The true provider protector actually has to have access
- 7:21to his soft heart to be that hard force on the outside. It's the same with the feminine. I can
- 7:28be soft Mark, but don't F with me. I am off his nails on the internet. Yeah, I had this conversation
- 7:37recently with JP Sears. Oh cool. Who JP is. Yeah, I love him. He's awesome. And he and he
- 7:43was on my podcast and we had this conversation and what's funny is I asked him, I said, you know,
- 7:47JP, like you're pretty bold. Like, and he had a kid a couple of years ago. And I'm like, now that
- 7:52you're a dad, like, what is that done to your boldness? And the answer I was expecting, which is
- 7:59super interesting. I said, the answer I expected from him was to say, well, now I'm a little bit
- 8:03softer because you know, I've got a baby and blah, blah, blah. And his answer was, I am bolder
- 8:08than I ever was. And I was like, wow, that's interesting. And he's just like having a child
- 8:13has brought out this warrior archetype out of me. And he's like, but my belief is, and he goes,
- 8:19I talk a lot about, you know, the myth of toxic masculinity and so on and so forth. And he's like,
- 8:24but in these conversations, he said the that archetype warrior understands that in order to be a
- 8:30mature, balanced man, I can slit a throat during the day and hug a baby at night. He's like,
- 8:37all in one day, I can be warrior and lover. 100%. The other, and yes, funny, I knew JP before he
- 8:46had his transition massive thighs and biceps. I knew him when we were both in like the Bay Area
- 8:56yoga scene and he was a therapist and like, it's been interesting to watch his journey. I don't
- 9:01know him personally, but have been in we've been in the same environments. And what's what I think
- 9:06is happening for men in particular and for women as well. But I believe that men that have sons
- 9:13are men that need to learn that exactly that lesson. And I think that men when they have daughters
- 9:19are oftentimes men that actually need to learn how to be that soft force and that protective
- 9:25force. And so I think we're getting the lessons that we need all of the time. You know,
- 9:30I have a Bernadoodle and she barks all the time. It's like I must be learning this lesson of like
- 9:36patience. But but yeah, I think that this, you know, one of the things I loved when I met you,
- 9:41Mark is like you definitely embody this like hustler spirit. You're like, I just see you as someone
- 9:48that's like, let's effing get it done. You know, and I don't, I don't know you, but I, you know,
- 9:55I don't know your day to day, Mark, but I'm like, he's probably got a full schedule. And then I,
- 10:01you know, hang out with some of our mutual friends and they're like, hey, send me your calendally
- 10:05link. Hey, you know, there's this idea of when you're an entrepreneur that you do it this certain way.
- 10:11And I really leave a lot of room in my schedule. And I, and I just think that that's okay for us to
- 10:21be doing it in different ways. And maybe I could learn from you to add a little bit more of that
- 10:26spaz injector bunny like, you know, kind of hustle spirit, but also I do think that entrepreneurs
- 10:34in general are some of the most burned out, overcooked people that that we ever meet,
- 10:41at least in our community. And so I'm curious like, now you're, I'm not going to say your age,
- 10:47but now that you're moving into a different. I'm 30 and two weeks. I'm going to own it.
- 10:53Your 50 like, do you find that there is like more room in entrepreneurial hustle culture to create
- 11:02space for your heart, for your spirituality, for your embodiment, for your unravelling in a way?
- 11:10That's, that's a great question, Katie. And you're right. My calendar is typically jam packed, but
- 11:17I'm actually going to give some props to Dan Sullivan. If you know who Dan Sullivan is,
- 11:21he actually loved Dan, strategic coach and loved Dan known Dan for a long time. He and Babs
- 11:27are family friends and, and I will say that one of the lessons that I've really taken away from
- 11:32strategic coach has been demanding three days and, and demanding what Dan would refer to as
- 11:40buffer days. And my calendar and I need to be more aggressive about it. But I need to be more
- 11:48aggressive about my non-aggression. Exactly. I need, I need to schedule my lack of planning.
- 11:54But, and when I say aggressive, I mean aggressively defend those days, and that is my fun days and
- 12:00Fridays are what I call buffers. And I deliberately, my team knows that Tuesdays through Thursdays,
- 12:07you, you can back to back me and I will, I will play. Perform. And my team, exactly. Dance monkey dance,
- 12:15Tuesday through Thursday, you can do whatever needs to happen. Mondays ask me.
- 12:22And Fridays ask me. I love that. Because like, for instance, this coming Monday,
- 12:28I'm actually speaking at a fundraising dinner up in Detroit. And it's actually it's fundraising
- 12:36dinner. You know that I'd recently published the book Radical Generosity. So I was asked to be a
- 12:40keynote and an event. But I didn't know that it was a full golf outing and everything that was
- 12:45supposed to happen that day. So I'm going to go embarrass myself on a golf course. But
- 12:49worse than that, the cool part about it to me was I was like, oh my gosh, I didn't really know
- 12:54that this was going to be a whole day thing. I thought this was just an evening dinner. But I
- 13:00looked at my calendar. I'm like, there's nothing on my calendar on a Monday. Like sure, sign me up.
- 13:05Like I'm good because I deliberately keep that buffer space that I can flex. And likewise,
- 13:12tomorrow, I'm traveling part day tomorrow. I'm actually flying up there early to spend time
- 13:16with some friends and family. And my day was completely empty on a Friday. So it meant that I was
- 13:23able to take some things from this week that got a little bit challenging. I'm like, you know what?
- 13:27Put it on Friday. Put it on Friday. I have flexible hours to do Fridays. But client meetings,
- 13:34there are Tuesdays through Thursdays because I'm not engaging myself in intensity on Mondays and
- 13:39Fridays. Those are my set-up days. And then Saturdays and Sundays, I'm willing to be engaged if
- 13:45need be because my clients know I'm always around. But those are the days I really like this weekend.
- 13:50I spent time with family out in California. No, I think it's super important to have those days.
- 13:58I mean, we literally call this in our company. We call it feminine form. And that has nothing to
- 14:05do with being a man or a woman. It has to do with the way that the feminine. So in the
- 14:12tantric tradition, the masculine is the ambitious. It's the externalization. And in the brain,
- 14:19it's the intelligence of cleverness. And the feminine is the wisdom. And so men and women have
- 14:31both. And in the tradition, in many traditions all over the world, the men would get together,
- 14:36like men like you, like young, virile, protector, warrior, provider. They would all get together.
- 14:43And they would come up with these deep questions about what should the tribe do? And whether it be warfare,
- 14:51you know, someone's mad at someone, right? And they would then take that question to the grandmothers
- 14:59who were in a different tent, right? And what the grandmothers would do, Mark, this is so fun.
- 15:05Imagine you, right, in your company, you're like, we'll take it to the grandmother, right? And the
- 15:10grandmother would come back and she would, the grandmothers would say, Mark, not even a good question,
- 15:16try again, or they'd give you an answer, right? But like the whole start was like, they would have
- 15:22to first even validate your question. And so I was, and then what's so cool about this, Mark,
- 15:28is that you can do this inside yourself, right? So often we're like, what should I do about this?
- 15:34What should I do about that? But when you tap into this inner grandmama, right? Highest level
- 15:40wisdom, sometimes the question doesn't even matter, right? And so in our company, we like, we're all
- 15:47women, right? And I'm not adverse to hiring a man. It's just who's been, who's been available and
- 15:53who's been chosen. But in our company, like if a woman has her, what we call moon days, right? She's
- 15:59got her menstrual cycle. She's allowed to take a day off. If she needs a break, you know, I don't
- 16:05like the term mental health day, I don't love that. But like she just calls in. And what I find,
- 16:11Mark, is that the more room I give the women and my company to have the reality of a woman's
- 16:16body, Mark, they will work their buns off on the days when they, you know, are feeling their best.
- 16:23And so I just think there's another way of doing it. I'm going to, I'm going to ask you question,
- 16:27because I love all of this. And I, and I do want to dive into more of your Ayurvedic practice,
- 16:33because I, like Ayurveda to me is fascinating, because it's almost like ancient wisdom meets
- 16:39modern science. And it just makes so much darn sense. And I don't think it gets enough
- 16:44billing, but in most people's world. But I'm going to ask you a question, because we're talking
- 16:50about this hustler versus wisdom, so on, so forth. But you just used a phrase that I need to,
- 16:57I need to unpack for a minute. You said that they asked you to, they evaluated your question.
- 17:04That was the phrase you use, that the young men took their, their, their, their, their,
- 17:10conundrum, if you will, to the grandmothers. And the grandmothers first evaluated the question
- 17:16before they even thought about giving an answer. And the first thing that went through my head,
- 17:22and it could just be because of where I am currently, because I am always contextualizing
- 17:26today's conversation happens to have a lot of current events on my head. And one of those
- 17:31current events is not necessarily world politics and whatnot, but one of those current events is
- 17:35the use of AI. And you put together this whole series of questions, and we're like, here's some
- 17:41questions you can ask me, here's some questions I can ask you. And you're like, I did this all in AI,
- 17:46isn't this amazing, but upon them, like that is amazing. Like I'm looking at it and it's absolutely
- 17:50fantastic. But when you just made the statement about first the grandmothers would evaluate the
- 17:55question, it made me think of this whole input output trouble with people are having in the use of AI.
- 18:03And I was, I was talking to a friend of mine last night who's a college professor and teaching
- 18:09in the realm of AI right now, and we were having this conversation about, I believe that AI is
- 18:14doing something to people because people who are capable and willing to think deeper
- 18:21are getting greater and greater insight. And the people who don't understand and ask the bad
- 18:26question are getting bad answers. And I'm curious in this world of Ayurveda, in this world of
- 18:37artificial intelligence as it's presenting because it's hard to have an emotional connection with
- 18:43the bot, obviously. Can you correlate that with me about asking bad questions? Because I say that at work
- 18:53all the time. I'm like, guys, I don't need you to just do. I need you to question why you did what
- 18:58you did because no one made a mistake it if you can explain to me why you did it. But if what you did
- 19:04didn't even, if it didn't even come close to where we were trying to get and you can't explain
- 19:10how you even got there, that's a fail. And I'm finding this like, I put all this in the AI and
- 19:17it's so stupid, this is what it did. I'm like, well, maybe it's just real idiot.
- 19:23Like, does that resonate at all? I'm so glad you're bringing this up and it's so cool because most
- 19:30people see me, they see what we put out into the world were a feminine form Ayurveda school where
- 19:37Uighur is hell, right? But people don't know that before I was, before I was the Ayurveda maven,
- 19:44I worked in AI before anyone knew what it was. I lived in the South of Spain. I worked in an AI
- 19:50think tank in Marbella, Spain for seven years. And we were creating AI technology that was helping
- 19:56predict the stock market. And they hired me because I helped these MIT kind of Asberger's level
- 20:02dudes teach the computer how to, quote, feel human emotion. That was my role. And they called me
- 20:09the sacrificial virgin because I didn't even know how to turn on a computer mark. Okay, this is,
- 20:14I'm not going to date myself, but it was a long time ago. So I say I went from AI to AI, AI to
- 20:22Ayurveda intelligence, right? It's been a journey for me. But I have a background in AI. I love
- 20:28technology. I enjoy it. I think it's got its, it's nuclear energy, just like sexual energy,
- 20:34we can use it to destroy, we can use it to create. We, in this example that you asked me about,
- 20:43we are the grandmothers. We are the grandmothers. And in fact, I just came from another conference where
- 20:50I was speaking with someone, I won't say which company. Let's just say it's one of the main ones
- 20:54doing AI right now. He was one of the high ups in this company and he said, we are finding that
- 20:59when we hire women to, to give the prompts to the AI, the outcomes are stellar. And so they're
- 21:09they're like candidly hiring all these women to do AI prompts. I'm like, yeah, because we're,
- 21:13you know, this is generalizing, but we're super good at being relational, right? And so I think
- 21:18the deeper, when people don't understand the levels of our consciousness, there's a lot of fear
- 21:24around AI. AI is on one of the lower levels of consciousness. It's the mental body. And AI
- 21:32is superb at being able to extract informational intelligence from the collective mental body.
- 21:41But we have a physical body, an emotional body, a mental body, a body of the heart, a body of
- 21:46God, a body of the astral, right? Like AI is just on one level. So am I afraid that it's going to
- 21:52take over? No. But what we have to do, Mark, is you and I, you know, and people out there, we have to
- 21:58learn of the incredible dimensionality of our consciousness. And that's where Ayurveda can come in
- 22:05and all these beautiful spiritual practices. I absolutely love that. And I chuckle with this because
- 22:12there was just an article that was published recently talking about how AI is being used as a
- 22:18psychiatric alternative that they're doing AI counseling sessions. And it's having great results
- 22:24and restoring people's mental health and helping people's therapeutically work through things and
- 22:29so on, so forth. And I think you know this, but my background is actually the clinical psychology.
- 22:35So I'm like, all right, I get it. I understand it. I'm like, and it does concern me in some
- 22:43respects because I think the internet and social media has already crippled people's emotional
- 22:50maturity because I think people have actually been in many ways lost their ability to interact
- 22:55with other people because they think social life is sitting on the couch with a phone in my hand.
- 23:01Right. And I'm an incredibly relational person. Like I say, that's one of my gifts is being able to
- 23:06just, you know, be in a ground. But at the same time, I'll say like this, this AI grandmothers
- 23:13type conversation. I love that paradigm, by the way, like that's such a cool metaphor.
- 23:18It makes me wonder because I was just even telling my team yesterday, like there's days and you
- 23:22talk about the feminine bringing out this whole thing like the master of an armed cross,
- 23:27I'm not talking the counselor as opposed to the feminine, who's just going to verbal vomit all
- 23:32over the place, right? And hope that somebody can help pick up those pieces, right? If we're,
- 23:36if we're, if we're, if we're stereotyping. Yeah. And I mean, I think we could even like,
- 23:41we could even call that the immature feminine and the immature masculine, right? Fair.
- 23:46I mean, just to make it a little more sharp. But like one thing I want to backtrack and highlight
- 23:53on this whole because I think this, by the way, everybody, Mark and I came up with some fun AI
- 23:58inspired questions from one another. And we were like, these are great. We've not used any of
- 24:03the so far. Because why? It's because no, no, no, it's because our hearts are connected. And in
- 24:13that field of the heart, we're, we're in this spontaneous serendipitous yoga, right? That
- 24:19which emerges out of our spontaneous heart connection. So with the question about psychotherapy.
- 24:25So this was another thing that was brought up at a recent conference. I just came from a lot of AI,
- 24:30big, big names from AI. It was so heartening, Mark, they're all sweet, sweet, cool people, right?
- 24:36They want to do good in the world. They're not like nefarious people. And they were talking about
- 24:41how great this was for psychotherapy. And I'm sitting over there going, oh, I don't know about
- 24:45this. And I'm like, curious, who are the people it is benefiting? Are they men? Are they women?
- 24:51Where, what is their, what is their tendency? And I think in yoga, we talk about there are 100,
- 24:57there are as many yogas, meaning disciplines for enlightenment as there are beings. Everybody
- 25:02has a different way. And I do think AI can be really helpful when you need to do that like
- 25:07cognitive reprogramming, like almost like a cognitive behavioral therapy type thing. AI will
- 25:13never replace the type of therapy that occurs when the somatic of my body and your body are in
- 25:19the room together, having a somatic experience or a heart-based experience or an emotion-based
- 25:25experience. And so I think if we're able to elucidate the layers of our consciousness's
- 25:31dimensionality, it's going to help us have the AI conversation in a way that's supportive and
- 25:36healthy rather than, is it good, is it bad? Can I add one totally random thing there? I love
- 25:43your vocabulary. And I just have to say that as a as a lover of words, the fact that you're using
- 25:50words like elucidate and deferious. And I love getting complimented. So this is an awesome
- 26:00thing. Maybe an unusual compliment, but I love it. So, but I was telling my team the other day,
- 26:05and again, we talk about this, just, you know, having chats kind of thing. And I said, you know,
- 26:10sometimes when I don't even know what it is, I'm trying to communicate. And I think this is the
- 26:15bad question, Conundrum. I will literally driving to the gym at night, because I work out after work.
- 26:22So it's like, I'll be leaving work. And I'm just in traffic getting to my gym after hours. And
- 26:28and I will find myself like literally just clicking the chat GPT button on Bluetooth and just
- 26:35talking through my problem out loud and letting it help quantify the things that my head is having
- 26:43a hard time organizing. And it could be just something I'm struggling with at work. It can be that
- 26:48I'm just trying to figure out something. And I literally just talk out loud. And I'm like, can you
- 26:52organize those thoughts and tell me if you can find some common themes that may help me sort
- 26:57through this? And the feedback that I get is absolutely incredible. And part of it is that
- 27:04there is a time, and this is where I get into that masculine feminine thing, because sometimes I
- 27:09feel like that's very feminine energy, right? That's I just need to talk it out. And I'm asking
- 27:15chat GPT to be that masculine mirror for me. It's face. Because because I'm the person who,
- 27:20typically I tell people, and this is an ongoing joke with several friends of mine, like if you come
- 27:25to me and say, Hey, I've got a, you know, I need some advice. I always respond or, you know,
- 27:31can you tell me something sure? And my my response is typically absolutely, but I need to know you,
- 27:37you actually want advice or do you just need me to listen? Like clarify for me, because if you're
- 27:43coming to me with a problem and you don't want a solution, tell me ahead of time because you're
- 27:47going to get a three point solution, and you're going to walk away with action steps, because that's
- 27:51the way I work, right? GSD. But you're going to you're going to walk away with a plan. If you don't
- 27:58tell me that's not what we're here to do. And like I said, sometimes I've got stuff wandering
- 28:04around, and I need someone to help me put together that plan and help organize my thoughts. And
- 28:09I will use it to mirror that. And I find that it's a great listener. Have you ever done that?
- 28:17Have you ever given it that? No, but you're like the 50th dude to tell me that he's doing this. And
- 28:24I think it's interesting to me. And so I want to say two things about it. One, if we were looking
- 28:30this through a Jungian psychological lens, what I think is happening, and I think this kind of
- 28:36can assuage some of the fears that inevitably come up in my community, especially, right? But in
- 28:43all all of the world around AI, I think from a Jungian psychological perspective that AI is actually
- 28:50the best that we've ever had, it's like Carl Jung's wet dream for the collective subconscious,
- 28:57right? We're able to actually extract. Well, and we must qualify that by saying it's the
- 29:04collective that's been conglomerated on the internet. So it's a big, but that's that's pretty good
- 29:10data, right? Right. And so if we look at it from that way, we can think about it in a sense,
- 29:17it's not just some AI robot out there spitting out information. The robotics have been trained
- 29:25on the humanity of our collective subconscious. So that's a freaking spiritual idea that I just
- 29:33spouted out. This is hell a spiritual shit, right? Can it be used nefariously? Absolutely. So
- 29:40there's that, but there's also the thing in Mark, I'm not saying this is you, but I mean, like not
- 29:4650, but maybe 10 men have told me they've done exactly that. And it makes me think about the current
- 29:52situation, especially young amongst young men, where they are reporting super high levels of
- 30:00loneliness. They want someone to listen to them. They want someone to give them good feedback
- 30:08in a world where we've lost the fathering principle, right? You said it felt feminine. And that
- 30:14made sense to me because there's someone holding the fathering in this artificial way, right? And so
- 30:23that to me says, cool, use it, use it as much as you want, but know that we might need to be
- 30:29tapping into this innate longing for for fathering and also for for lovering, right? Like a lot of
- 30:37us that are entrepreneurs, we also tend to like have a loneliness epidemic, which is why you and I
- 30:43met, right? We go to this thing where we get to have friends and we get to stay connected. And so
- 30:48I think let's use the AI, but let's also like, I'd love to sit and hold space for you, right?
- 30:54No, I agree with you. And personally, I'm a very relational person. Like I always say relationships
- 31:01over transactions every day of the week. And as a marketing professional, it is nonstop the hammer
- 31:10that I continue to swing even with my clients. Like if you're looking at your consumers as being
- 31:16transactions, you will fail because there's a lot of people who are willing to have relationships
- 31:21with them. Well, that's, I want to ask you about this. So this is a great transition for what I
- 31:27actually did want to ask you in this podcast. So guys, it's a spirit session, performance-driven
- 31:32living, uh, mix tape. Okay. So my, my ladies, so I have a, who's pouring up any minute? Right,
- 31:39exactly. We're from the eighties guys. We made mix tapes for each other when we had crushes. So
- 31:44like, okay, my, so here's, here's who my audience is. We get a lot of yoga,
- 31:48yoga ladies. We have went, so our, our company, we provide a year to two year,
- 31:54Ayurvedic Health Coaching platform where a lot of the women do it for themselves,
- 31:58but a lot go on to create their own Ayurvedic Coaching businesses.
- 32:02Mm-hmm. That's awesome. And then here's me selfishly thinking about my own company. So if we
- 32:07were speaking to wellness practitioners, in my case, women, wellness practitioners who want to
- 32:13market their services, guys, we are in the presence of Mark Young marketing guru. I'm calling
- 32:20you the guru. Ooh, I'm the guru. Oh, wait, wait. Why do I, is this what I do with my hands?
- 32:25That's right. Hold that up at your next marketing meeting. But I want to talk about what would be
- 32:31the like quick and dirty on your, I mean, you mentioned relational and not viewing your
- 32:37customers as transactional. How can people really start to launch their own marketing in a way
- 32:44that's super relational and loving and non-transactional and authentic? Yeah, super huge question.
- 32:54Like, that would be, yeah, like, let's dig room. What am I asking you? Like, how should a person
- 32:59heal? How should a person start Ayurveda? Exactly. The biggest thing I will tell you is I'll walk
- 33:07away from that with the relational over transactional. Like, I will eat that drum over and over and
- 33:15over and over again. And it's the reason why at my marketing business, I laughingly say that
- 33:21we are the marketing agency with no marketing department. And the reality is is because every single
- 33:28client we have has been a relationship that I have developed somewhere or has been a referral from
- 33:33someone else who has told somebody they needed to talk to me. And the idea of having a lead funnel
- 33:39for my own business is actually like, we're talking about it right now with our leadership team.
- 33:44But it's new information that we're having to try to forge ahead with that. It's just kind of funny.
- 33:51And when you're talking about Ayurveda practitioners as an example, it's so
- 33:58relationship. I mean, that is such, it's such a relationship. Like, I would never tell a person
- 34:04to create a lead funnel and start to get, you know, Facebook, whatever's and stuff like that.
- 34:09Like, depending on the type of practice you're looking for, I can see where some leads can be
- 34:13beneficial. But for people that are getting into that type of practice, the reality is your
- 34:20referral base is 100% of your marketing. And I literally will tell people that you are your
- 34:28own marketing department, just in the way you show up in the world. Like, if you don't show up in
- 34:35the world, the way that people are envious, if I can use that word, of the way you show up,
- 34:41well, like, I don't go to a personal trainer with a belly, right? And I don't do that simply
- 34:47because that personal trainer is not representative of the aspiration I have of being like that person.
- 34:52So for or the individual who's going into private practice, the reality is is like,
- 34:59Katie, I said this when we first started off, like, you're a calming presence in my life.
- 35:04So if I was trying to find some way to heal particularly on an emotional level, you're a person,
- 35:08I can call simply to show up in the world, the way that I would want to show up in the world or
- 35:15aspire to have qualities that you have. And I think where a lot of people
- 35:22miss the mark in entrepreneurship is, you know, first to be your own customer, like show up in
- 35:29the world in a way that people want. And I actually say this to my own team, like, I leave my office
- 35:35between 6 and 630 every single day. When I'm in town, there are occasional days that I'll be
- 35:41there late if need be, but I deliberately leave at a very specific time every day. And my team knows
- 35:47that I'm going to be leaving. And it's unapologetically, I'm leaving to go to the gym.
- 35:53And they know that I'm not going to the movies. I'm not, you know, going to have dinner with friends,
- 35:57like, I'm leaving because I'm leaving to go to the gym. And part of the reason I said we were in
- 36:01a meeting one day, and I need to comment like, part of me, I have to look the way I look,
- 36:07and I have to be in a health status, the way that I show up, like my entire desk is covered in
- 36:14supplements and all this other kind of stuff. And like, because yes, I work in marketing, but the
- 36:18majority of my clientele is actually in the longevity space. If I look like a wreck, or if I'm fat,
- 36:25or if I'm unhealthy, or if I've got pimples all over my face, or something like that, like,
- 36:30I'm not representative of my audience. That's so funny. Like everyone listening,
- 36:37those of you that can't see marks, marks turning 50 in 13 days, he looks great. He's a hottie,
- 36:43like, go to his website, look at how hunky this man is. And Mark, this is the mudra. Let's go back
- 36:51to this hand. Mudra means a hand gesture. You're over here. And and Carl Jung said it best.
- 36:57Reality can be found in the tension of the opposites. And here you are over here spouting deep
- 37:04masculine energy truths. Okay. Ready? What are they? I look, I look hella good because I'm the
- 37:11outcome of what I preach, right? Like, ain't nobody going to come to me if I'm chubby, because
- 37:16I'm the marketing guy, right? Like, and my space is longevity. And here's Katie. Here's Katie
- 37:21over here in the complete same space of Ayurveda. And I'm holding that. And I'm and I'm agreeing with
- 37:28it 100% and the feminine side of that is you are always going to be broken. You are always going
- 37:37to be having a part of you that's unhealed that struggles. And in that brokenness and in that
- 37:45struggle, that's also where the marketing medicine is. Because it's the way in which Mark,
- 37:52I struggle to keep my weight balanced. I do. I, I'm a food, food is my lover. I like a hamburger
- 38:00and french fries with cheese. I'm from Tennessee. And here I am trying to be this Ayurveda woman.
- 38:06How can that work? And the answer is it's that it's that imperfection. It's that struggle that I
- 38:15have with my own health, with my own weight, right? With my own emotions that enables me to be the
- 38:21kind of woman that other women resonate with because that's who they are. You know what I'm saying?
- 38:27100% agree. And, and I'm cute and I'm healthy. And she's beautiful. And I fished for that one.
- 38:34I fished for it. And I was going to say it anyways because I know where you look when you're
- 38:39stunning. But the way how many is is like, and when I say that, it's, it's the discipline of
- 38:45making sure that I'm walking the walk is what I'm getting to. It's not trying to be perfect
- 38:51because trust me, I'm far from perfect. But, and, and I'll tell you, like, I was a fat kid.
- 38:56Like, I was, I was an overweight adult and I actually had an abdominal plastic surgery years ago.
- 39:05Like, because I had loose skin from losing so much weight and so on and so forth. So it's like,
- 39:10and I share that freely. Like, I share that at 50 freely. Like, that doesn't bother me because
- 39:15it's not an insecurity about my imperfections or age or anything. In fact, I share that
- 39:20so freely because I find it relatable. Totally. Because my intention is to live a life that
- 39:26inspires through aspiration. Like, somebody wants, you know, if I find able, I was asked yesterday
- 39:32in a podcast, like, how do you inspire people? I'm like, I simply set the tables six steps away
- 39:37from where you currently are. Like, if I, if I set the table over there, you move to where I am.
- 39:43And that's, that's all I'm trying to do. Like, I don't need anybody because when the, when the
- 39:47outcome seems unattainable, people paralyze. Yes. When it, when it's only a few steps down the
- 39:55road, you meet me there and then I move the table a little bit. Like, all I'm trying to do is,
- 39:59is set something that seems attainable. And if that is, you know what, if I can get up and go
- 40:05to the gym every day, you can get up and go to the gym every day. If I can tell the story,
- 40:09then you can tell me yours and open it up. But again, that type of, I'll use the word marketing
- 40:18is relatable. It's not transactional. Yeah. And I think honesty is like, okay, so you,
- 40:26you're in marketing, inevitably I'm in marketing as well. When we want to share this with the world,
- 40:32right? And what I hear in the, in the online community, and it's been about a couple, two or three
- 40:38years, it's authenticity, authenticity, authenticity. And now it's kind of like gagging me a little,
- 40:44I'm vomiting in my mouth a little bit when I hear authenticity because you get a lot of like,
- 40:49feigned authenticity. And it, it's the opposite, right, of authenticity. So as, so Mark,
- 40:56so Mark has a book, I know you have a new book on radical generosity. Everyone should go buy it.
- 41:01But when I met you, your first book that I read was called Date Your Clients. And I remember
- 41:07holding it and being like, what? No, hashtag boundaries. What mark? What are you talking about?
- 41:13And now I understand it's all about relationality and really like bringing people into your world and,
- 41:20and making them a part of your life and, and kind of uplifting them. And, but how do we find the
- 41:27balance between being real and being authentic and not moving into the realm of like TMI where we've
- 41:36lost the sort of sense of like the sacred, the, the secret, the personal. Yeah, I love that. And
- 41:43thank you for the Date Your Clients shout out. That's the date your clients actually was really
- 41:49funny Katie is when I wrote that book. That was the first book I wrote and, and the, the whole
- 41:54premise, I, first of all, I love provocative titles because that was, that was definitely a
- 41:58provocative one. Which was hilarious to me. But Date Your Clients was a juxtaposition between
- 42:05personal relationships versus professional relationships. And I, I hate these online. Oh, sorry,
- 42:11I'm using the word goober now. But the these online, you know, they're, I'm going to teach you
- 42:17everything you know about landing the client and closing the deal and all this other kind of stuff.
- 42:21And it's like, that stuff's great. Like, whatever, do your thing, billionaire mentor hashtag. Like,
- 42:26do whatever you got to do. But the reality is is my, my belief is that relationships and that
- 42:33in the professional realm are far more intuitive than people give it credit for. Totally. Because
- 42:40we all understand how to build a personal relationship, right? And as you know, through that book,
- 42:44like I, I somewhat snarkly, you know, walk through what the first date looks like and, and, and,
- 42:51you know, make them swipe right is the title of chapter one. And it's this whole idea of
- 42:56your website's an absolute train rack. But, but you're dating profile. You would never put a
- 43:03dating profile looked like that. Why? Because you wanted to land the perfect one. Well, then why are
- 43:07you willing to put your business website out there looking like a train rack? And you would never
- 43:13go on a first date without making sure that you had a haircut, making sure you wore your best
- 43:17outfit. Why are you looking like a trash can? Unfortunately, Mark, I don't think you're dating man
- 43:22right now. No, not at all. Some of this, some men have ranch dressing on their beard when you
- 43:29show up. Yeah, it's disgusting. And here's my deal. When I go on a date with a woman and, yeah,
- 43:34we'll talk about dating for the rest of the podcast. Perfect. Here's the deal. Like I go on a date.
- 43:39I, I automatically assume that she looks as good today as she's ever going to look. But I,
- 43:46I have to make my decision on if I can wake up to this every morning because this is as good as
- 43:53you're ever going to look as I believe that on a first date, you took the extra time. I believe
- 43:58you took the extra minutes, you know, and women and there's a whole chapter in the book that actually
- 44:02goes through this whole, what the ritual looks like for a woman versus a man and, you know, the woman's
- 44:07first date actually starts a week before the date because there's all of the appointments that have
- 44:11to happen beforehand and like for the man, it's like, you know, 15 extra minutes of push-ups.
- 44:16But, but the reality is, is like, we intuitively know this, but when we go meet a new client,
- 44:23do we go through the same kind of prep work? Or is it just another Tuesday and our world? Because
- 44:28to them, that's a first impression. I love it. And when we get into this personal marketing that
- 44:34you're talking about, you are your practitioner network. Yeah. You get into that. The reality is
- 44:39is like, that's all you're doing. You're dating all of these new potential clients one at a time.
- 44:44You know, I love this mark because I know my listeners and my students are going to listen to
- 44:50this and you get so much value from it because what I, what we see as a stumbling block in
- 44:55shockedy school is that people think because they see Katie Silcox's website or our large
- 45:02Instagram following or our lead page and our funnels and our newsletters, they need to do that
- 45:07immediately. And I'm like, you guys, let me tell you how I built my amazing beloved brand. A,
- 45:17your reputations, everything. I mark, I have this one my wall in our office. We walk in integrity.
- 45:25That's the number one thing. Like you said, be the thing that you want to project into the world.
- 45:31Mark, I used to go with a piece of paper and a pen to every yoga class I taught in San Francisco.
- 45:38And I would just get their name and get their email, have a personal connection, a personal
- 45:42relationship. I met with these people one on one and I built my brand from the bottom up going and
- 45:48doing any speaking event, any yoga course, anything anyone asked me to do. There was no social media
- 45:54back then. And I think people, young people, especially gets to afraid of launching their businesses
- 46:01because they don't have big social media following. So what would you say to people that are
- 46:05just starting off and don't have big followings? I'll give you one sentence and that is I would
- 46:11rather be loved by few than liked by many. Can I get an amen? But and I use that phrase all the time.
- 46:19Like when you're starting, be loved by few, create raving fans out of the few people that you do
- 46:25have in your Rolex and let them advertise for you because building a giant social media following.
- 46:33And I had a call yesterday. I actually met a gentleman at strategic coach and he's like,
- 46:37oh, you're a marketing guy. My son's a recent marketing graduate. And you know, he's really
- 46:42struggling to find a job. Would you mind spending some time with him? And I'm like, sure, you know,
- 46:46whatever, like set him up. And I did like a 30 minute with the kid yesterday just giving him a
- 46:50quick mentoring call. And and I'm having this conversation with this recent college graduate,
- 46:56he probably graduated six months ago. Can't find a job in marketing that has aspirations of being
- 47:00in the sports marketing and filming whatever. And I'm like, big lofty dreams. I'm like, dude,
- 47:05so I'm going to ask you some questions like, what are you doing? Oh, I keep a spreadsheet. These
- 47:09are the 750 applications that I've put in blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, all that's fantastic. I'm
- 47:14like, so what is your personal website like? Well, it needs some updating. Hmm, interesting.
- 47:20Like you got nothing but time though. I'm like, so what is your YouTube channel look like?
- 47:26Well, I mean, I've gotten, what does your portfolio look like? Well, I've got some stuff I did in
- 47:31college. I'm like, okay, so what I said, here's the deal. You want to create my content as a
- 47:37owner of a marketing agency. You want me to hire you to create my content. What does yours look
- 47:42like? Exactly. You're never going to do more for me than you're willing to do for you because
- 47:48frankly, you like you more than you like me. And you know, any kind of laugh, then I'm like,
- 47:54so your website will be updated. You have no YouTube channel. You really don't have a social
- 47:58media following to speak of. You have no voice in the marketing space whatsoever. And the only
- 48:05professional examples that you can give me are things that were assigned to you by a professor.
- 48:11And I'm like, dude, like, I don't mean to sound removed here. Like, but your idea of marketing
- 48:17yourself is filling out applications online. You believe that's what marketing looks like.
- 48:24And he just, and I went dude, like you are just another number to an HR department right now
- 48:31because you've done nothing to set yourself apart. You don't know how to market.
- 48:38And, and, and trying to tell him like, build your audience, build your channel, fix the damn website.
- 48:44And just do it. Just start. Yes. For your voice out there. I say the same exact things. Like,
- 48:53the perfection is the enemy of done. Yeah. Show up. Own your space. Speak.
- 48:59It's free. I'm only, I'm only going to do work if you pay me for it. But great. You just,
- 49:04that is not how you, you are not an entrepreneur if you believe that entrepreneurs are working
- 49:11for free most of the time, most of the time, most of the time. And, and I, I laugh because they
- 49:16even sometimes my team will be like, why are we doing this again for free? I'm like, and,
- 49:21and I will back it up every single time. Sometimes it sometimes it doesn't work out. And I'm like,
- 49:25because I know that this person knows that person who knows this person. And I just want my name
- 49:31to be mentioned in positive lights and future conversations. That's it. Yeah. And it's the
- 49:36reason I have a marketing agency that doesn't have a marketing department. I love it.
- 49:41But that's why because networking and networking is nothing more than relationship building.
- 49:48And to, to circle back on our entire conversation here, add something AI cannot do. Never. Yeah.
- 49:56AI is never going to build human connection and build a relationship and let the energy that I
- 50:02project attract the energy that you're giving. Like, that's never going to happen in an AI setting.
- 50:09And when it comes down to that type of relationships, it's, it's the reason why I don't want to be
- 50:14in the office. I, I want to be out at spending time with people building relationships and speaking
- 50:21and inspiring and doing all these other things because those are my unique abilities. And there's
- 50:27something AI can't replace. Yeah. I want to highlight this idea for the audience from Mark and I
- 50:35around your authentic heart, your real voice. What you feel is your unique value to the world.
- 50:44It might not look exactly like us or anyone else, but to figure that out and then just like
- 50:50trust in it and go with it. And then I also want to say just maybe as a closing thing,
- 50:55I love that we didn't get into any of the questions. And our AI, our AI assistant helped us with.
- 51:03And I just want to say, maybe I'm kind of like making the, the subtle over, but you know,
- 51:11everyone out there listening, like me, Mark and I sitting here having this conversation is,
- 51:20hopefully an example and an embodiment of what happens when a man who is, who's done a lot of
- 51:29work, maturing his masculine and what a woman who's done a lot of work, maturing her feminine,
- 51:34what it looks like when they come together. And I think us embodying that as friends and showing
- 51:39people in real time is what the world desperately needs. I believe that when men and women in particular
- 51:47can hold each other, even in our friendship, in this place of love, you have just made me feel
- 51:53so energized. And that's what shocked me means, by the way, it's feminine energy, it's,
- 51:58it's power. And I hope I've like maybe inspired you in your masculine. And yeah.
- 52:04Yeah, always. And Katie, I want, it's one of the things I appreciate about you is that you,
- 52:08you definitely are a yin to the yang or a yang to the yin. I can never remember which is what.
- 52:13It's the yin. But, but absolutely that, that yin to the yang balance. And I think that is
- 52:20something that in our world, if I can give that closing thought, we're so busy trying to be
- 52:27equal that we're not realizing that we can be different. That quality doesn't mean identical.
- 52:34That we can be equally different and complement each other in that way. And I think that yin yang is
- 52:41missing in so many spaces that, you know, to your feminine energy that you bring to every
- 52:47conversation and every room that I've ever seen you in, it's refreshing because it's not,
- 52:54it's not disingenuous. It genuinely is who you are. And I love to see that you're also this
- 53:01badass entrepreneur who is using that in such a way that you're spreading that message to the
- 53:06world. And it because being feminine doesn't mean that you're, that you're, your shy and
- 53:13bashful or helpless or helpless. Like, no, that that's the energy that drives you. And in the same
- 53:20way as you're saying, my drive and my zeal and my conquer the world to kind of take on things
- 53:26also is what drives me. But I also need that that edge removed for me sometimes that's, you know,
- 53:35down, it's going to be okay. Like, I need my buffer days. I need my days where I'm just spending
- 53:41time with family and friends because the world isn't about conquest all the time.
- 53:47Well, Mark, this has been an absolute pleasure. And just as a final statement, you can drive my car
- 53:55anytime. You can open the door for me. I love you dinner. Yes, all of that. Thank you. You
- 54:02did a man out there that are still driving us around and opening doors and letting us just rest
- 54:07and be in that feminine energy space, knowing that we can all do both. And yet we choose to give
- 54:13each other this gift. So thank you. I had to tell you this now because in talk to a friend the other day,
- 54:19I made, I made the comment about it. Women would stop trying to be men on so many of these,
- 54:24these quiet toes, these bubbles or whatever because sometimes it feels like you're wrestling with
- 54:28a woman rather than dancing. No. And it's a beautiful dance when it works. But it's like,
- 54:33sometimes it feels like a wrestling match. And I'm like, if women even understood that if they
- 54:38just leaned into what makes them amazing, they could run the world. Like, you can run the world,
- 54:48no one's wrestling with you on that. Yeah. It's like, but do it on the level that you have been
- 54:53finely gifted. Yeah. Yeah. Katie, thank you so darn much for joining us today. I know that we're
- 55:01co-hosting this weird conversation with each other. And I absolutely love the way that it all
- 55:06played out. It was awesome. It's beautiful. We're closing on Performance Driven Living's
- 55:12podcast with Katie Sokots. All of Katie's information is actually in the notes down here below.
- 55:19Look up the Shop D school. Learn more about Ayurvedic Medicine and learn about just the the
- 55:25energy and the maturity in that energy that Katie focuses on in her books as well as visit her
- 55:31on her website. And learn more because she is a a jewel to the natural health and wellness
- 55:39space. And I encourage you to find her. Thank you so much for being here, Katie. Well,
- 55:43likewise on our podcast, we're going to put all Mark's information, his new book, Radical Generosity.
- 55:49And now everyone's going to want to redate your clients for anyone out there listening.
- 55:55Mark is the guy to go to for a real authentic marketing advice. And Mark does so much more that we
- 56:01didn't even get into in the health and wellness space. But you can check him out website below.
- 56:06We love you, Mark. Thank you for being and having. Thank you, love. I appreciate you. I'll see you soon.
- 56:11All right. See you.