About a year ago my friend Sherry Essig and I met in San Diego for a mini-vacation. Between shopping excursions and our quest to find the best tacos in town (she’s a fan of the original Rubios and I love The Taco Stand), we started reminiscing about working together. Sherry and I first met over 14 years ago when I was working at RSM McGladrey and she came in to do some work with us. Talk about a serendipitous moment.
We not only developed a strong professional relationship, but also a truly great friendship. Over the years we’ve designed and implemented workshops together, partnered to deliver some great programming at a few other places I worked, and deepened into our friendship. We discovered a mutual love of yoga and we did yoga teacher training together at our favorite studio, Blue Lotus, in Raleigh, NC. At one point, while walking down the beach in San Diego and reminiscing about a somatic coaching workshop we used to run, we decided it was high time that we work together again.
Small problem: Sherry lives in North Carolina and I am in California. Add Covid to the geographical limitations, and creating something in physical space seemed next to impossible.
Luckily, as is so often the case, our problem was the solution.
Sherry and I are both huge podcast fans. We listen to a wide variety and love how egalitarian it is. Anyone with something to say, halfway decent recording equipment, and the energy to jump through a few hoops, can get their ideas into the ears of a broad audience hungry for content.
What’s In a Name?
We're calling the podcast "Flowing East and West: The Perfectly Imperfect Journey to a Fulfilled Life." The title reflects where we live, along with a shared philosophical perspective that fuses elements of Eastern and Western thought. But it also speaks to the very distinct paths that Sherry and I have taken in our lives.
She's run a successful coaching business for over twenty years, whereas I've been mostly in the corporate world with a couple of different forays into consulting. She's great at going deep one-on-one; I love being in front of a room. She's detail-oriented, and I'm more of a throw spaghetti at the wall type of person.
We complement each other nicely, and when we disagree, we can have tough conversations without getting pissed off. We’re pouring all of this into the podcast, and honestly, the episodes where our opinions diverge are the most interesting.
One thing we do agree on wholeheartedly is the path to fulfillment is rarely straight or narrow. And it’s never perfect. When we pursue perfection over all else (which our culture often tries to push us to do), the result can be a life where it feels like everything happens to you, when something great feels just out of reach, or there's a nagging feeling there should just be something more to life. It's a bit like being asleep to what is right here, right now.
Sherry and I want to invite our listeners out of that semi-conscious state so that they can start to create the life they really want - embracing the ugly bits and celebrating the great ones. We want to raise the collective consciousness to this perfectly imperfect journey called life and call forth the courage to meet it with grit and grace. We are hoping to shine a light on the idea of awakened consciousness, even though we know that means embracing the salty and the sweet; the pain and the pleasure.
We know it is often our darkest days that lead to our brightest opportunities - but man, is it hard to see that when you’re in the middle of it! How we meet ALL of this is the design of a life, and we want to provide support and guidance to facilitate the journey.
Flowing East and West is For You If...
You've got a sense that there's more to life than the day-in, day-out punching of clocks and ticking off of boxes, and you occasionally hear a quiet whisper from inside yourself telling you things could be different. You're curious about the real purpose of life, and you want to actively create the existence you want rather than the one your parents, teachers, or our culture has told you to pursue.
On the podcast we'll talk about our life experiences and spiritual journeys; we'll interview friends and colleagues with provocative perspectives on various topics from meditation to vulnerability to the power of presence.
Here's what we won't do: we won't preach, and we won't claim to have the answers. But we will hit you with a helluva lot of questions.
Intrigued? We'd love you to join us. We just launched this week - you can find us:
We're just getting started - who knows where this journey will take us. We're quite sure there will be unexpected twists and turns, but we're excited for the journey. If you like what you hear, please consider subscribing and sharing it with your friends.
I'd love to know what you think - what would you like to hear about on the podcast?
