Yeah.

Um, and, um, and I think I said this to you before, was like, you know, when you first sit still with yourself, you expect silence, but the mind is so loud because there's nothing to hide behind, and everything would seem amplified.

All the noises, all the sounds seemed amplified.

My thoughts were amplified.

I think for the first f- month, it was me getting comfortable with hearing my thoughts and not being dictated by them 'cause a lot of the time, you know, we think we're our thoughts, but our thoughts are just passing events.

That's the thing, you know? That's, that's like what meditation is, you know? It's not to clear your mind, meditation.

Meditation is to acknowledge where you are in that moment, and the thoughts are clouds, and you acknowledge these thoughts that are there.

Of course.

But how, how do you get there? What does that realistically look like to get away from reaction, to get into the space for a proper response?

So you place these little moments woven into your day.

So example, if you're, uh, just about to go into a meeting, when you touch the door handle, you take that breath.

So within that breath, you place a Monk's Mindset moment to leave the last meeting behind, to leave whatever's said, so when you arrive through the other side of the door, you can be present in what's being said in this meeting.

'Cause a lot of the time we carry what we previously experienced.

There was a, a guy who came to Peloton, uh, and he interviewed someone who had a high-performance job, uh, very high-pressure.

And he, there was a situation where he would come home, and he's on the phone, he's on the phone, and he would open the door, and his kid, his boy, would come up to him and he'd go, "No, no, no, not yet." You know, and he'll put his hand out.

Mm.

Yeah.

Because you, you know, yeah, you, you've, you missed all the little beats because you're, you already, you already think you're at the begin- uh, at the end of the line.You know, when you, you, you gotta always start at the back of the line, and you work your way through.

Um, there was, uh, way back in, um, the day, it was the, the Superman movie, 'cause I'm a huge comic book fan, and the Superman Returns, and the actor, he was kind of a unknown.

Br- um, Brendan Fras.

Like, he got cast as Superman, and he...

And, you know, he starred him, and he thought, "This is it.

This is gonna be my big break and everything." And then after that, the, the movie tanked.

If you're looking back at your life since you left being a Buddhist monk, would you say that your mentor's proud of you?

Oh, no.

Yeah.

We'd been, we'd been out and having fun like you do.

I was 23 at the time, and the car nearly toppled over and I remember turning the steering wheel to the left, and if I turned to the right, the car would've gone over.

But if I turned to the left, the car would've flooded down, and my instinct turned it to the left, so the car stopped and with a thud, and I just sat there and it just felt so uncomfortable.

Uh, not uncomfortable because I could have been a horrific accident, but uncomfortable because for the first time in my life I was still and I was aware.

I could feel aware and my, my, my mind was just completely clear for the first time, and it felt so uncomfortable.

Yeah

decide studying to be a monk would be your choice?

So I went to Sunday school in London.

There's a beautiful temple in Wimbledon.

If anyone's ever there, go to Wimbledon.

There's a Thai temple.

And I used to be taught tradition and language by monks.

And I always had this thing about monks knowing everything.

What are they?

... as a, as a Buddhist monk but then also being a, a fitness pro?

It's the same.

It's service.

So when, when the monastery, you know, you kind of focus on self and service.

You know, I, I know I, I f- work on myself so I can service and help others, and, and when your purpose becomes more than just about you, it's so more fulfilling, and I feel that in this role, it's kind of an extension for me of what I did in the monastery.

Uh, we used to go on, on alms rounds in the morning.

So we would go out with our bowl, and people would give us food, and we would bless them.

Hmm.