Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:09] Speaker B: The podcast for those who find themselves immersed in adversity and choose to write their story instead of having others write it for them. I'm Drew Duraney and I'm your host.
Today's guest is Leo Mars. Leo Mars is a writer, critic, creative strategist and founder whose path has been anything but linear.
From building an award winning nightlife business, to opening America's first breathwork studio, to losing almost everything and rebuilding with more clarity than ever.
He knows what it means to cave in, bounce back and evolve.
Today, Leo helps others navigate their own reinventions by by blending timeless wisdom, conscious design, and hard won life experience.
His upcoming book, the New Creator, explores how we move beyond survival and step into a life we're consciously shaping, aligned, meaningful, and fully our own. Enjoy the show. Leo, so good to see you.
[00:01:15] Speaker C: Yeah, great to see you, Drew.
[00:01:18] Speaker B: So I always like to thank the individual who introduces me to my guest. And this one was very different because your virtual assistant stumbled upon the podcast and reached out to me via email and told me this amazing story about you and that you'd be interested in coming on. And I always like to, rather than say, yeah, that story sounds great. Here's the booking thing, you know, have them come on. I want to meet my guests and get to know them and get that connection going in the positive energy. And so we did that. And I definitely wanted you on even, you know, just especially after meeting you. So. So that's how we initially met.
Now why did I want Leo on? Well, my audience, you guys know that I always say that, you know, we're young, we're taught that life is linear and it's not a malicious teaching by our family or friends.
They want it to be for us and they hoped it would be for them. And they tell us, you know, if you do A plus B plus C in that order, D is going to happen.
And for the most part, when we're young, life is linear until it's not.
Always external circumstances come our way and get in between those letters and kind of derail that straight path and put us into a more circuitous route.
When those external circumstances happen, we either see them, those that we either notice and recognize that adversity, or we don't.
And if we do recognize it, we have a choice of either ignoring it and keeping life the way it is, or we do something about it.
I believe that there's three types of men out there.
There's man number one, who's got a ton of blind spots, doesn't notice the adversity just lives life the way he's told to live it. And that's it. Nothing changes.
And then there's man number two who sees the adversity, yet he says, now I'm the victim. That's, that's everybody else doing this to me. It's life doing it to me. I'm gonna blame all these people and all these circumstances and I'm not changing anything. And on his deathbed, he has a ton of regrets. Man number two. Man number three is Leo Mars. The men and women I have on this show.
Man number three is the man who has a heightened self awareness, sees the adversity and says to himself, you know what? I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. I'm going to do something about this. This is not a barrier. This is an opportunity. This is life doing it for me. I'm going to take some massive action, do something different and I'm going to become a stronger man on the other side.
So, Leo, reach back as far as you can.
Find that defining moment, whether it was that tap on the shoulder, the whisper in the ear, or like I needed the 2 by 4 upside my head, that transformed you from the man you were to the Leo Mars you are now and kind of changed you forever.
[00:04:18] Speaker C: Got it?
Yeah, there were, you know, there were actually, I could, I could speak to two, two big turning points and both, both very profound lessons.
I'm 42 now.
The first, the first hit at 27 and the second one hit around 30, I guess it would be 8, 38 years old.
[00:04:44] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:04:45] Speaker C: The first, the first one was a little bit more. So I, you know, I think I mentioned this to you in our first chat.
At the time I was running a nightclub and a four star restaurant, had an award winning chef, was really kind of in some ways at the top of kind of the materialistic kind of pinnacle, pinnacle kind of pecking order.
And slipped into this.
I was, you know, visiting my father in Alaska, taking a week, a week break and I, I basically slipped into an altered state, just completely sober.
My sense of self basically was nowhere to be found. I was still looking through my eyes. It wasn't out of body, but I was everywhere.
And, and that was, I would say that was the first, I would call that like kind of in the category of, of spiritual experience.
For me, spirituality is having to do with matters of ultimate concern. It's a very practical, practical inquiry. So that was a, a shattering of who I thought I was. I thought I was the ego, the personality, the possessions, the Body.
[00:06:06] Speaker A: Right.
[00:06:07] Speaker C: And I would say that was in many ways serendipitous. It was mostly beautiful in the beginning, but it led to a several year depression because I, I was really struggling with like, how do I reconcile this life? How, how can I be everything?
And, and if you're everything, you're essentially no thing.
How can I be that and be a person at the same time?
And so that, that was, that, that led to a, a solid decade of, of inquiry into reconciling that.
[00:06:44] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:06:46] Speaker C: So for the, for the most part that was kind of a, a beautiful experience though. I, you know, like I said, I did go into a depression, but the one that really hammered me was, was the one that happened more than 10 years later. Okay, I know I told you a little bit about that on our chat, but that was, that was the one that, yeah, if you want to share.
[00:07:07] Speaker B: That because I mean you can either, you know, share that along with why you fell into depression after all these tangible tactile things were going well. You know, you had the award winning chef like, like some people out there wonder, I don't understand how you can fall into depression if you have all that. But then there's some people out there who say I get it because I've been there.
[00:07:28] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:07:28] Speaker B: Can you touch a little bit on the depression? And then 10 years later, what then happened to even turn your life around for, I guess for the worst for a while until you bounce back again.
[00:07:41] Speaker C: Yeah. Had had really no other choice, but really for me it was, it was either the end of my life or I, I turn it around.
Yeah. So the depression on the, the, the first kind of big turnaround or pivot that really, you know, so, so I was able to sell my venue and it looked like this kind of beautiful exit transition into a new phase of life.
Yeah, I, I, you know, after I, I sold the venue, which was just, it was less than two months after that shower experience.
[00:08:17] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:18] Speaker C: It really was kind of like, wow, I'm on top of the world. I just exited my, my business and I got a one way flight to South America.
You know, got, got a stack of great books, Joe Dispenza and some philosophy and, and psychology stuff.
And what, what was really hard for me is I, I went into a deep like multi year phase of kind of self loathing.
[00:08:49] Speaker B: Interesting.
[00:08:50] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:08:51] Speaker C: I, I was really struggling with.
[00:08:53] Speaker B: You left like kind of high thinking, this is great. I'll take the money I made from the venue, I'll go away to South America, I'll read some books. Learn about myself. I really expecting to go up higher and why self loathing. I'm curious. I'm not sure you're going to get into that, but that one.
[00:09:10] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:09:11] Speaker B: Surprised me.
[00:09:11] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:09:12] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah. So really for me, it was like, it was, it was really kind of that experience in the shower was what I would call like and, and call it by whatever, whatever name you will. I think it's quite practical for me. These like non, dual states, states of enlightenment and, and, and oneness and whatnot. It's very practical.
It's like, you know, it's very primary before the personality.
But what, what was challenging for me was I had that experience had catalyzed a path of, of service and of, of real, like, real contribution to the world.
[00:09:52] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:09:52] Speaker C: And I had seen how, wow, I've just spent my entire, you know, even going back to, you know, being an entrepreneur in my preteens. Like it was always materialistic drive, you know, money and, and, and, and ego, you know, recognition.
[00:10:09] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:10] Speaker C: And then with the, with the venue, I, I was, I was beating myself up for kind of having contributed negatively to so many people's lives.
[00:10:19] Speaker B: Oh, interesting.
[00:10:20] Speaker A: Okay. Okay.
[00:10:21] Speaker C: You know, selling millions of dollars in booze and just like pushing, pushing, pushing alcohol consumption.
[00:10:28] Speaker A: Yeah. Making sense. Okay.
[00:10:29] Speaker C: And of course there's drugs and everything else in there, but really in intoxicating people and contributing to people's lives, losing of self as opposed to finding himself.
[00:10:38] Speaker A: Makes sense. Yeah, yeah.
[00:10:42] Speaker C: And yeah, that was the big thing there. And then also I kind of realized how messed up I was.
As I started to become more self aware, I started to see how, in many ways, how, how many voices were in my head, how those voices were very self orientated, self oriented, very selfish and that.
[00:11:05] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:05] Speaker C: So that was kind of the big thing there. There was also kind of an existential crisis. It was like, what the hell's going on here? I'm so confused.
[00:11:13] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:11:17] Speaker B: And that, you know, that confusion then kind of leads to decisions you make that you're not sure if you're making them because they're aligned with who you truly are or who you want to be or you think others want you to be. And that may have led into that 10 years later, the next crisis, moving into that next crisis. Can you like share where you believe you were in sense of self when you met that individual that kind of rocked your world?
[00:11:50] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah.
So when I was about 33, I discovered some trauma and some, basically my earliest memories that that had been trapped and I discovered that in, in therapy and that of course had influenced the course of my entire life. You know, so there was a sense of like, wow, I, I've just spent like 33 years misinterpreting the world, misinterpreting who I am, my own value.
So it really, of course, like, I think for many of us, what, what happened when I was an infant, I, I made it mean that I wasn't worth, worth security, basically.
Security, love, connection.
So on a fundamental level, in fact, I remember explicitly as an 18 month old interpreting the experience as, oh, I'm not worth security, love and belonging, basically.
And that eventually caught up with me in the second kind of 2x4 along the head, which it was, I feel you on that in that I attracted essentially I attracted a kind of sociopathic predator like personality that took advantage of those deep underlying beliefs and used the, you know, narcissist will will find those weaknesses and, and use those as best they can to make, you know, to diminish you and keep you in control.
So yeah, and I, you know, I thought I had been doing work around that because I, I had discovered that years before encountering this, this person.
[00:13:54] Speaker A: Right, right.
[00:13:56] Speaker C: But I hadn't done enough work.
[00:14:01] Speaker B: You know, I get it.
And when we talk about worthiness, it's possible that when you met her, how beautiful she was and all that, that you had a different sense of worthiness.
That I'm worthy to meet and be with somebody this beautiful.
When you saw the outside beauty, it's possible.
So let's get into how you met her, the worthiness you felt at that time and why you think the attraction occurred and the rest is history.
[00:14:38] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. And you know what, you're right. You're speaking to something that, you know, it was it. You know, these, these types of personalities are experts at making you feel amazing and until, until they don't like something or you know, feel like they're losing control or whatnot. So yeah, no, you're right. I, you know, from the get go, I was treated incredibly.
I was treated really, the, the best I had been treated by a woman before. I was kind of, I felt like, you know, she, she saw who I was and in, in my full glory, if you will, and, and really treated me like a king, if you will.
Yeah. So know that, that did, you know, it did kind of pull me in pretty quick. You know, I think I told you our, our second date was a week on a yacht coming to the Panama Canal.
You know, beautiful actress, model, powerful, very socially intelligent. Yeah, yeah. And so that, that actually did feel like I was kind of leveling up.
And, you know, people. People in, in this type of, I guess, personality type. And, and oftentimes, like anyone who's in the.
The spectrum of psychopathy, there's something like. They say there's something like 30% of humanity is. Is on the spectrum.
[00:16:16] Speaker A: Interesting. Okay.
[00:16:18] Speaker C: From. From the years of. Of research I did afterwards, trying to make sense of it all, I did find some data on it. Then they say like 5, 5%.
What do they say, like, 5%?
Let's say they say like 5% are.
It's like a high, A high number of. These are CEOs of companies. Like, they're very intelligent.
[00:16:41] Speaker B: Yes, yes, yes.
[00:16:42] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:44] Speaker B: Intelligent and driven.
[00:16:47] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:16:47] Speaker C: And control is a fundamental need.
[00:16:50] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay.
Yeah.
[00:16:53] Speaker B: So then when. At what point did it feel like something's off with this relationship?
Because sometimes it takes us a long time or, or it takes one thing to strike a visceral chord.
[00:17:15] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah. This is actually something I've never really shared publicly, but I will.
Cause I'm not using names.
[00:17:21] Speaker A: But.
[00:17:25] Speaker C: We were about five. Five weeks after starting dating. It was just a very high high. So as kind of as you hinted at it, it felt like, wow, this is the relationship I've been wanting about five weeks. So we came home from the trip through the Panama Canal, and then maybe two or three weeks later, I took us to Italy for a friend's wedding.
[00:17:49] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:17:50] Speaker C: And so we're, you know, at, you know, Lake Bellagio, like, super sexy, you know, kind of James Bond lifestyle going on.
[00:17:58] Speaker A: Oh, my God. Yeah.
[00:18:00] Speaker C: And we were down on the Amalfi coast and I got up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. We were in this pitch black room and my. My knee bumped the bench at the end of the bed.
[00:18:13] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:18:14] Speaker C: And this guttural, almost like demonic sounding sound came out of her in her sleep. Like she didn't wake up. It was just this, like, rage came out and I just like, oops. Bumped the. Ow. You know?
[00:18:31] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:18:32] Speaker C: And I, I froze and almost had chills. Was just like. What was that?
[00:18:39] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:40] Speaker B: Oh, my God.
[00:18:41] Speaker C: So he. She had done a really good job so far the first five weeks, kind of masking this.
[00:18:48] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:49] Speaker C: Under underbelly.
And that was just a little bit of like a. Huh. That was interesting. Um, we got back to the States and we were moving very quick. It was like, it really felt like the relationship, like we were going to make a family or whatever.
[00:19:04] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:19:06] Speaker C: We moved very quick. So we got back and I want to say within A week of getting back to the States, we were moving in together.
[00:19:12] Speaker A: Oh, wow. Yeah.
[00:19:14] Speaker C: Yeah. Moving very fast. And.
And then within one week, I want to say it was six or seven days into moving in together, she was arrested for felony assault.
And she had called the police, which is the wild part there. There are these, like, Amber heard, like, beautiful women that will use their beauty and the social kind of contracts or norms around men.
[00:19:43] Speaker B: Okay, so, okay, men would side. Men who would come to respond to that call would then side with the woman if it was. Yeah, Okay, I gotcha.
[00:19:54] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:19:55] Speaker C: And I, I, I, you know, I. I've gone through a lot of, like, I've, you know, owning a nightclub. I probably myself put out at least a dozen fights just in that phase of life, you know, And I. I'm not a violent man. I've been. I've been struck many times. I don't strike back even in the heat of it.
And so what happened is I want.
[00:20:20] Speaker B: To rewind just very quickly. Do you ever mention to her about that gutturals in the sleep, think demonic thing, or did you keep it to yourself?
[00:20:29] Speaker C: Honestly, like, I realized very quickly that I couldn't have an honest conversation with her like that. That would have triggered another assault, unfortunately.
[00:20:40] Speaker B: Yeah, but you hadn't been assaulted. Like, if. If, like, at. When you were in Italy and you stumble on the table, like, like when you woke up the next morning, I would think you may want to say, hey, you know what? Something weird happened. I hit my knee, and boom. But you didn't do that.
[00:20:54] Speaker C: I don't think I did, no. Unfortunately, it probably would have been a good time, though, because she was, you know, putting on her pretty face.
Maybe she would have been a little more responsive at that time.
[00:21:05] Speaker B: All right, well, you know, what happened?
[00:21:07] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:21:08] Speaker B: All right, so now you're back in the States, and. And she calls the cops on you. On you, Right?
[00:21:15] Speaker C: Yeah. So, yeah. And this. This, you know, this is how it happened. I got out of the shower. I had left somebody to be with her. I knew that the person I was.
It wasn't. It wasn't meant to be. And so the timing of it was very short. I basically left one relationship to go into another, which is not something I. I generally like to do. But, yeah, so I was. I had just crushed this. This woman's heart. And I mean, when I. When we were kind of splitting things up, she was, you know, quivering. Her, like, lips would be quivering, and I just felt, oh, man. I just crushed this amazing human's heart. And I basically I. I was sharing with my friend, my new, basically, partner that I just moved in with, traveling the world with. Obviously have a lot of love for.
[00:22:04] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:22:04] Speaker C: I was just sharing, like, human to human. Like, oh, man. I'm just really feeling the heaviness of having hurt this person.
[00:22:10] Speaker A: And. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:22:11] Speaker C: And that's. And that's it. Just like, just. That's what I'm feeling.
And she took that the wrong way.
And escalated, escalated, escalated. Got started getting really upset and flustered.
[00:22:23] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:22:23] Speaker C: And then saying things like, oh, you were with her the whole time. And I was super confused. I'm like, no, no. I'm just talking about someone's feelings, and I just feel the weight of it.
And within maybe a couple of minutes, started dialing 911 and I'm covered in water. Just have a towel around my waist. Very confused.
[00:22:45] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:22:47] Speaker C: I've done a lot of work on myself and, you know, can handle a mature conversation and expect that from others.
[00:22:55] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:22:56] Speaker C: And she started calling 91 1. And immediately I sit back on the other side of the room with my phone and I start recording. I was so confused. I just started recording.
[00:23:05] Speaker A: Definitely.
[00:23:05] Speaker C: I'm like, what is going on right now?
[00:23:07] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:23:09] Speaker C: And she told the police on the other line. She said, I don't feel safe right now. This is my address.
And I'm going, what is going on? As I'm recording. I'm so confused.
[00:23:20] Speaker A: Really.
[00:23:22] Speaker C: So now the police are on the way. She's telling me to stop recording. She goes into the kitchen, fills a pot with water. This is really explicit.
I've never shared this outside of close friends, but I'll make it kind of short here. Basically, she filled a pot with water. She was saying, stop recording me. Stop recording me.
Threw the water across the room to try and, I guess get my phone to stop recording.
[00:23:49] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:23:50] Speaker C: And she didn't stop. So she. The pot is now empty.
She then spent the next 15 minutes chasing me around, pounding me with this pot.
[00:24:00] Speaker A: Right.
[00:24:00] Speaker C: Of which. Of which I had all on recording.
So now by the time the police get there, she's getting cuffed and spending the night in prison because they've got 20 minutes of footage of her chasing me around.
[00:24:14] Speaker B: Oh, because you were so. Thank goodness you were recording because of your confusion.
[00:24:18] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:24:19] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:24:21] Speaker B: Wow. Unbelievable.
[00:24:22] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:24:23] Speaker B: Oh, geez.
[00:24:25] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:24:25] Speaker B: Okay, so now, I mean, you're talking about an hour collectively. Hour, two hours maybe, of everything's bliss.
You share your heart, your vulnerability, about heavy feelings, hoping there's compassion returned.
And now she's in jail.
[00:24:46] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:24:47] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:24:48] Speaker C: Yeah, even. Even less. I mean, it was very clear what had gone on the police. You know, in fact, one of the cops said on his. After they had done the police report, she's now in the car with cuffs on.
As he was leaving, he said, hey, man, there were, like, three cops. And he's like, hey. He's like, don't. Like, you need to get out of this relationship and stay out. He's like, you're gonna end up with a knife in the back of your head.
[00:25:12] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:25:14] Speaker C: And so the thing that's so confusing, I think, dealing with these types of people. So the next morning, I mean, she. She. She went from this, like, basically a kind of extreme assault to totally switching gears into, like, tone of voice change, personality changes. Totally, like, personally responsible, accountable. I'm going to go into therapy. I'm going to do ayahuasca. I love you so much, baby.
And essentially convinced me to give her another chance.
[00:25:48] Speaker A: Oh. So, okay.
[00:25:49] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:25:51] Speaker C: And that. That was my. My big downfall.
[00:25:53] Speaker A: I get it. Yeah.
[00:25:56] Speaker B: All right. So the second chance happens. Probably the same kind of stuff occurs.
How'd you get out? How did you get out?
[00:26:05] Speaker C: Yeah, that's the hardest. So, yes.
Yeah, it was really hard. And unfortunately, I had already made the mistake. I should never have given her a second chance.
And that is something I've learned. You know, people show us who they are.
You need to believe them.
So, yeah, it continued. So I would say every about five days going forward, I was being essentially assaulted.
[00:26:31] Speaker A: I. I would.
[00:26:32] Speaker C: You know, it was. It was pretty gnarly. I would, you know, get locked in. And she was very strong. She would lock the door, and if I. If I needed any type of space, like, hey, I'm gonna go on a walk. Nope. She'd lock the door and assault me.
I couldn't get any space. And what it ended up.
What it ended up, ended up being.
It started where I was kind of, like, convinced by this switch in personality, because she would just become so loving and so calm and, like, her voice and she just was so, like, just the embodiment of. Of.
Of accountability and commitment to. To loving me, to this, like, switch in a second. Could be anything.
[00:27:20] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:27:21] Speaker C: I remember one time I asked.
I asked. She was making burgers, and I. I said, can you put more mayo on my bun?
[00:27:29] Speaker B: Oh, no.
[00:27:29] Speaker C: And this sent her into an absolute rage.
[00:27:33] Speaker B: Oh, my God, Leo. Geez. Okay. Oh, my gosh. All right, so.
[00:27:38] Speaker C: And what it.
[00:27:39] Speaker A: What.
[00:27:39] Speaker C: What it turned into was if, like, she would come to my place of business and become just Hysterical in public. And I would have to like, okay, okay, let's go on a walk. We'll talk about this. If I, if I made any, any imp that I wanted to be out of the relationship, it. I would pay for it in a, in a really big way.
[00:28:02] Speaker A: I see.
[00:28:05] Speaker C: And so what it ended up being was she.
The first time I actually got out of the relationship, I'm like, okay, great, you know, peace. And within, I want to say, 24 hours, one of my staff members at my business is like, hey, Leo, this person is telling people this on the Internet at scale, like contacting everyone in my network, saying that I'm abusive.
[00:28:36] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:28:37] Speaker C: I'm like, okay. And you know this. I've gone through a couple of phases in life where I'm a public figure, I'm a public facing business owner, and this was one of them. And so I had something to leverage. So she was basically. And she, she basically had told me, if you leave me, I'm gonna ruin your life.
And so that the, the pain of defamation was such that I eventually, I essentially caved the first time and I sent her an email and was like, hey, let's work this out. It had been like two days. I was just, just everyone's like, what? Leo's. And she, you know, framing this whole story about how I was abusive, using photos of, you know, her injured injuries after breaking up her. Her dog's fight with a dog, which I actually cleaned the injuries, but like telling people on the Internet that I did those things. And it was very confusing.
And again, I made, I made a mistake of saying, hey, okay, like, let's, let's work this out together and getting back into relationship with her. So eventually, eventually, I want to say six months or less after that, I did get out, but not without paying for it with, you know, defamation at scale. She spent two months, contacted over 10,000 people. She was impersonating me, stalking me.
[00:30:06] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:30:09] Speaker C: Yeah, So I, I lost pretty much like, you know, I had investors, I had, you know, you know, significant amount of investment capital that had been committed to one of my ventures.
All my investors stepped away, lost, lost a lot of my community, and spent years really pulling out of that.
[00:30:32] Speaker A: Oh, God.
[00:30:32] Speaker B: Wow.
All right, so.
So at that point, you finally decided you're done.
You got, I mean, you got him. At that point, you. There's no more third, fourth, fifth chances.
[00:30:43] Speaker A: Right.
[00:30:44] Speaker B: All right, so you dig yourself out. I know you do a ton of breath work and stuff like that. Let's, let's go into where you're at now personally and professionally, because you're a strong man now and, and what you're doing now to help yourself and help others who may be in similar situations.
[00:31:06] Speaker C: Yeah.
Yeah. You know, for me, a big. A big lesson and one that I'm definitely advocating through the breath is, you know, we're especially like in wellness culture, which I've been in the wellness business for more than a decade, and there's this idea of like, becoming.
Becoming better. Self improvement.
[00:31:32] Speaker A: Right.
[00:31:33] Speaker C: And I think there is a time and a place for that. You know, there's.
There's ways to. To improve ourselves. But I think what we don't acknowledge enough is, is our inherent value and, and not to be like, kind of like, I don't know, cliche about that. It's, it's. It's that what I found is, is that my most powerful self, my most compassionate, eloquent, funny, you know, in many ways, like, magnetic and charismatic self is already in this seat. Yeah, I'm already that.
[00:32:09] Speaker A: You are.
[00:32:10] Speaker C: And when I stop trying to be that and actually get present, I am it.
[00:32:16] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. That's right.
[00:32:18] Speaker B: So I love that because I've gone through my share last 10 years of that as well. And the authenticity when we're authentic, we are who we are and it's. You don't have to try.
[00:32:31] Speaker A: Right.
[00:32:33] Speaker B: What are you doing now professionally? Is it. Is it mostly the breath? I know you have other stuff going on, not just the whole breathwork stuff, which is important. Very important. What are you working on now?
[00:32:44] Speaker C: Yeah. So, you know, it's all really. For me, breath is the medium. It's not the end. It's just like it. For me, it's the most powerful. It's more powerful than pharmaceuticals for anxiety, stress, depression. It's more powerful than even yoga for anxiety, stress and depression. It's like the. It's the reset button.
[00:33:03] Speaker A: Right.
[00:33:04] Speaker C: And it also can be used and, And I think through. Through a daily breathing practice, you do get more access to the present moment, to that self.
[00:33:12] Speaker A: Right.
[00:33:14] Speaker C: So I'm. Yeah, so I, you know, as you know, I. I'm. I'm have this breathing app.
I'm writing a book called the New Creator that's tied to.
Tied to the breath. Like, for me, creativity is. Is really. I. I think of it as the most spiritual act, if you will. We create our lives, our families, our meals, our professions.
And this is a way that I like to think of it as almost like cosmic lovemaking.
We're participating with life in a. In a really Big way. So I think that's, for me, creativity is essential to health and happiness.
[00:33:51] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:33:52] Speaker C: And the breath helps us uncover that and unlock, Unlock revelations and all the cool things.
Be a more powerful creator.
I'm in a few months going to be going live with an event series called the Big Breathe, which is basically mass.
It's like mass breathing, more or less. There'll be the biggest breathing events in the world, one city every month.
[00:34:20] Speaker B: That's pretty cool.
[00:34:21] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:34:22] Speaker C: Yeah. In fact, we'll be in New York.
[00:34:25] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:34:26] Speaker C: And I'll let you know.
[00:34:27] Speaker B: Please do.
[00:34:28] Speaker C: Maybe you can be there.
[00:34:29] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:34:30] Speaker B: I would love to, love to know where and when and I'll definitely spread the word in the New York, New Jersey area.
[00:34:35] Speaker C: Absolutely.
[00:34:36] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Good stuff.
[00:34:38] Speaker C: Yeah, there's, yeah.
[00:34:40] Speaker B: Well, you know, the audience certainly has captured the essence of you, Leo Mars, and they're going to want to get in touch. In touch with you. So folks, go to Leo's website. It's leomars L e o M A R R s dot com.
He's got an awesome newsletter and also his breathing app, you can access it called Ether e T H E r And there's a lot of other good stuff there and you can reach out to him and get to know him a little more.
It's gonna add major value to your life with that.
I know we captured a lot of stuff. Leo, I do have two final questions for you.
All right, so I'd like you to picture yourself in your happy place and you're sitting down with 7 to 10 year old Leo and you want to give him advice about life. Knowing what you know now, what are you going to tell 7 to 10 year old younger self?
[00:35:43] Speaker C: I would tell him, don't be afraid of your truth, of your intensity, of your enthusiasm for life.
Don't be moved by other people's reactions to that.
[00:36:08] Speaker A: I love that.
[00:36:09] Speaker B: Absolutely love that. All right, now we switch gears. And now you're sitting down with young Leo, the young businessman, young entrepreneur, and you want to give him some business advice. Knowing what you know now, what are you going to tell him about business?
[00:36:25] Speaker C: And you know, that's, that's, that's, that's funny because, you know, I feel like I learned this the hard way, but I would tell him slow down and, and, and connect to your deeper why.
[00:36:44] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:36:45] Speaker C: And don't feel rushed to build a business because of what the world advertises to you. Find what truly lights you up in the deepest parts of you and build that.
[00:36:59] Speaker B: I love that. I love that. And the advice you give to your, the life advice you gave to your younger self and also the business advice can help both areas in life. There is such commonality in our personal life and our business life that we don't need to.
We could kind of share some of the advice for both sides of us.
I want to thank you, Leo, for, for being so vulnerable, for coming on, for coming on, being so vulnerable and for being the good human being you are. And I'm thankful that we met.
Please keep doing what you're doing.
And, and it's okay to give second chances to the right people.
[00:37:43] Speaker C: And we. Sure.
[00:37:45] Speaker B: And, and then we've got to be careful about giving second chances to the wrong people.
So I, I, I thank you for sharing that because there's, there are people out there who are in the middle of it right now who are definitely going to benefit from your experience and you're sharing your wisdom. So thank you so much, my friend.
[00:38:02] Speaker C: Yeah, Drew, thank you.
Such a pleasure.
[00:38:06] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:38:07] Speaker B: So everybody out there, you please take care of yourselves.
Thanks so much for listening. If you enjoyed the episode, please subscribe and give us a review to help others find it.
I'd like you to answer this question.
Are you living the life you want to live, or are you living the life others want you to live? I'd like you to think about that for a second because I strongly suggest you live the life you want to live. If you want to learn more about what I stand for and my services and how I'm able to help many men get out of their own way, please go to my website at www.prophetcompassion.com.
feel free to also email me at drewrophetcompassion.com I'd love to have a conversation with you.
Take care of yourself and choose to write your own story instead of letting others write it for you.
