Jules Horn: Why Pushing Your Body Harder Could Be Keeping You Stuck

11 Sep 2026 · 1 h 14 min · 26 chapters

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In short

Jules Horn argues that extreme fitness and “hustle” can be a socially acceptable escape that keeps people stuck in chronic stress. He reframes healing as nervous-system regulation, stillness, and “working in” (breath, calm attention, memory processing) rather than “working out” to exhaustion. He also ties the obsession with control to fear/trauma programs and says true change comes from reducing the “stress cup” and increasing self-love.

Guest backgrounds

Jules Horn is a holistic health practitioner, former international fashion model, and coach/new father. He describes a shift after years of grueling workouts and rigid control, plus later work with clients focused on fascia/body awareness and nervous-system regulation.

Key claims

Overexertion borrows from the future and can worsen pain; the body is not designed to be abused; trauma is replayed through past-lens perception; stillness and breath can “empty the room” of stored fear; speaking “God” during release practice helps break fear’s hold.

Notable examples

He recounts a childhood near-drowning memory used in a guided breathing-and-recall exercise; he describes feeling “200 pounds lighter” after a 100-day trauma/mirror-disruption program; he contrasts traffic/phone noise with choosing calm in micro-moments.

Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.

Chapters

Tap a time to open that second in VO

Introducing Jules Horn and His Journey

3:24 to 4:49

Discussion of Jules Horn's transition from fitness obsession to holistic health.

“Today, I'm sitting down with the holistic health movement practitioner, my good buddy, new father, and coach, Jules Horn.”

Exploring Fear and Control in Life

4:51 to 9:05

Conversation about overcoming fear and the importance of vision.

“And, of course, Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich, right?”

Breaking Free from Routine and Control

9:22 to 14:05

Jules shares insights on discipline versus control and the journey of self-discovery.

“Literally, just as we drove here, because we were obviously stuck in traffic as well, and I said to Kate, I said, you can either drive yourself crazy in the traffic or you just chill and relax.”

The Evolution of Physical Training

14:05 to 18:03

Explore the changing perceptions of physical training and its impact on well-being.

Cultivating Energy Over Exertion

18:04 to 19:52

Learn about the importance of energy cultivation rather than excessive physical exertion.

“And again, all we are, we're busy recovering.”

Reflections on Personal Growth and Addiction

19:53 to 23:08

Understand how personal experiences and working with others can reflect on self-growth.

“I'm showing people and I'm teaching people is just coming back to remembering what it feels like to actually be in your body.”

Reflections on Personal Growth and Addiction

23:28 to 24:52

Understand how personal experiences and working with others can reflect on self-growth.

“the company Body at Shakeology, my baby, who I helped to formulate way back in 2006.”

Reflections on Personal Growth and Addiction

24:57 to 25:18

Understand how personal experiences and working with others can reflect on self-growth.

“That's Darren, D-A-R-I-N, the letter O, the number one body, B-O-D-I, to get 15 % off.”

Fear, Love, and Spiritual Awakening

25:19 to 28:00

Delve into the concepts of fear and love in personal experiences and spiritual growth.

“You get addicted to it, so if you take it away, every cell in your body starts screaming.”

Overcoming Past Trauma Through Present Awareness

28:00 to 30:20

Learn how to recognize and release past trauma to unlock your potential.

“And it was just I went into deep and I couldn't swim proper and my parents and my friends and my family were too far away.”
Show all 26 chapters

Embracing Emotional Freedom and Responsibility

30:20 to 40:00

Discuss the importance of emotional acceptance and taking responsibility for one's choices.

“And then from that place, you can actually clean up as much as you want until the room is empty and clean.”

Facilitating Inner Healing and Self-Connection

40:00 to 42:00

Explore techniques for facilitating inner healing through self-connection and awareness.

“You realize subconsciously that it's actually just talk to you in a child and you're grown up already.”

Disrupting Automation for Inner Healing

42:00 to 44:46

Learn how to connect with yourself to foster healing and awareness.

“And so my back led me back to birth trauma and like, oh, I thought I hit this.”

The Importance of Self-Reflection

44:46 to 47:29

Understand the value of quiet moments for personal clarity and growth.

“like like i i'm all for like things to facilitate the body 100 but like when you're dumping when you're dumping your brain into claude chad gpt 24 7 you're not thinking and you're not sitting You're not receiving.”

Balancing Self-Love and Personal Responsibility

47:29 to 49:52

Discover the power of self-love in overcoming negative emotions and parasites.

“And then from that place, you actually get rid of all those things.”

Listening to Your Inner Voice

49:52 to 52:23

Learn how to differentiate between the loud ego and the quiet, guiding voice.

“And then when I feel the urge to do a set of pull-ups or muscle-ups or like swing a maze or kettlebell, I'm doing it.”

Creating a Balanced Life

52:23 to 55:40

Explore how to manage stress and self-care for a healthier lifestyle.

“But going back to what you're doing, it's like, I catch myself even saying that, because it's a way of being that you've been cultivating and practicing.”

Understanding Body Signals and Health

55:40 to 56:00

Recognize the importance of listening to your body and addressing its needs.

Understanding Body Signals and Choices

56:00 to 57:55

Explore how ignoring bodily signals can lead to health issues and the importance of making conscious choices.

The Journey of Self-Love and Consciousness

57:55 to 1:00:53

Discover the significance of self-love and mindfulness practices in transforming one's life.

“So the body, your body, my body is breathing no matter what.”

Overcoming Distractions and Cultivating Presence

1:00:53 to 1:04:36

Learn about the distractions in modern life and techniques to cultivate presence and awareness.

Finding Simplicity in Life's Journey

1:04:36 to 1:10:01

Understand how simplicity and personal choices lead to a fulfilling life and self-discovery.

The Power of Practice in Daily Life

1:10:01 to 1:10:41

Learn about the importance of daily practices and personal choices in achieving a calmer state.

Inner Wealth and Compassion

1:10:41 to 1:11:59

Discover how inner wealth is cultivated through self-practice and compassion for others.

“that everyone has their own path to figure out.”

Trusting in the Path Ahead

1:11:59 to 1:13:08

Explore the concept of trust in the journey of life and the role of faith in overcoming fears.

“One thing helped me really, Darren, is when I know God exists, because otherwise it's like a mind thing, right?”

Appreciating Life's Challenges

1:13:08 to 1:13:39

Understand how challenges enhance our appreciation for positive experiences in life.

“so from that place it's like this is a way and I'm gonna stay on this way no matter what comes and you know, it's not gonna be always easy because God creates conditions in order for us to know how it is without them.”
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Transcript

Automatic transcript. May contain errors.

0:02Darin Olien:Welcome to Super Life with me, Darin Olien. A podcast where we explore, discover, and share solutions that promote a healthier life and a better world. Together, we'll ignite possibilities, inspire change, and build sovereignty, creating a roadmap towards a super life for you and for all. Get ready to start living your super life.

0:32Darin Olien:Before we get into today's episode, I want to acknowledge the company helping to support this conversation, Alchemist. You know, most of us spend so much energy thinking about what we put into our bodies. The food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe outside. But here's something that doesn't get nearly enough attention. The air inside your home. Here's a fact that floored me. conventional paints, which are petrochemical-based, are off-gassing, endocrine-disrupting chemicals for not just days, for years after they've been applied. This means the walls of your bedroom, your kids' rooms, your kitchen, they could literally be releasing toxic chemicals into the air you're breathing every single day.

1:21Darin Olien:That's why I want to talk about Alchemist. Alchemist is the world's first wellness paint. Their paints are mineral-based, VOC-free, and completely free of PFAS, those damn forever chemicals that have no business being anywhere in our environment, especially in our home. And because the formula is rooted in natural minerals, it's inherently anti-mold, anti-fungal, so there's no synthetic additives needed to perform. Nature has already done the work. On top of all of that, Alchemist paint is class A fire resistant, which I love here in Southern California, because guess what? Rocks, i.e. minerals, don't burn.

2:08Darin Olien:So you're not just protecting your family's health, you're protecting your home on every level. No downside. And here's the thing that really speaks to me. Alchemist is cradle to cradle certified. If you're not familiar with that, it's one of the most rigorous sustainability certifications in the world. It means the product has been evaluated across its entire life cycle from the ingredients sourced to make it all the way to what happens when it is no longer needed. Nothing is an afterthought with this company. That's a standard most companies never even attempt to meet, but they do. They've rethought the entire formula from the ground up, so you don't have to choose between a beautiful home and a safe home.

2:53Darin Olien:We put so much thought into the products that touch our bodies or go into our bodies. It just makes sense to extend the same standard to the surfaces that literally surround us. If you're repainting a room or now inspired to do so, building something new, or just ready to make a healthier swap, check out Alchemist. Go to A-L-K-E-M-I-S dot com. Use the code Darren10, D-A-R-I-N 10. Welcome back to the Super Life Podcast. Today, I'm sitting down with the holistic health movement practitioner, my good buddy, new father, and coach, Jules Horn. After years as an international fashion model, pushing his body to the absolute limit through grueling workouts and rigorous, rigid control, Jules experienced a profound awakening.

3:47Darin Olien:He recognized that modern hustle culture and the obsession with extreme fitness are often just socially acceptable forms of really escape, trapping us in chronic stress, exhaustion, and absolute distraction. In this groundbreaking, amazing conversation, Jules opens up about trading constant physical breakdown for genuine energy cultivation. We dive into the powerful distinction between working out and working in, exploring how simple practices like deep breath work, true stillness, and nervous system regulation allows us to heal stored childhood trauma and release the past programming of it. Jules shares how marriage and fatherhood reshaped his daily rhythm.

4:40Darin Olien:Yeah. And how doing the quiet, simple, but powerful work unlocks authentic inner wealth. Let's dive in. I've been diving into some, you know, wealth principles. And, of course, Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich, right? Incredible. Did you know he's got another one? Oh, I did. That was literally held by the family for 70 years. It came out. You're going to love this. came out in the, I think 2013, 14. They allowed this one lady to, I forget her name, one lady to bring it out. It's called Outwitting the Devil. Oh. But an interesting spin. And so I don't want to give it all away, but they set it up, and then they said, whatever you believe, however he got this communication with the devil is whatever it is, but what they basically go through is still holds up as, like,

6:06Darin Olien:how do you keep population down? Basically it was like, I have half of the world and God has half of the world. And the duality, and by the way, I control about 98 % of the population.

6:30Darin Olien:And the way it was set up is the devil has to answer. He can't lie. So whatever Napoleon Hill asks, the devil has to share it. It's fascinating. It's fascinating. I've gone through it twice now. So there's principles of, like I'll give a couple, just so people can go, like what are you guys talking about? But how to keep people down, this is going to be obvious, fear. right what are some cis is going to piss some people off what are a couple systems that help support that and control that he uses schools churches right so so it's a fascinating thing that he starts to discover and i find it very interesting that 70 years they definitely did not want this out and you could say that the world exists with confusion with fear and the algorithms and the manifestation of all of that and and and i'll leave with this and then we can get into whatever but what is the antidote free thinking vision yeah purpose being in that space being in that light being on purpose thinking questioning things like all of that for this context the devil hates it can't control anybody in that way that's that's amazing so anyway in our traffic as we were coming here i was just like re-listening to that again and it's just and suffice it to say you don't have to get lost in the devil and the god you don't have to get lost in that stuff call it duality yeah call it inside of our own selves however anyone needs to make that don't don't lose yourself in that the principle stays the same because i believe that too it's like when i get clear when I have a vision and then I take actions toward that.

8:52Darin Olien:And my mind still has resistance. The world still may throw stuff at me and I have to navigate and move around. But when I stay on vision, I set my sail and I set my course. And I set my heart and I set my mind and I set my body and I set, you know what I mean? And, you know, it's kind of a good segue to you. No, it's amazing. You know what's very interesting? Literally, just as we drove here, because we were obviously stuck in traffic as well, and I said to Kate, I said, you can either drive yourself crazy in the traffic or you just chill and relax. The outcome is going to be the same. You arrive when you're supposed to.

9:42And that's really exactly what you just said. it's the same with everything really in life and i truly for me it's always i like to use the knowledge or i believe in god and i know god exists therefore there's also devil exists and it's really when you look around everything that's control controllable that's not of god it's just what you said and then you know even in my own practice everything what i do on a daily based and i know we're very similar on that but this morning i just like slept in a little bit didn't get up until five i slept until seven with with the baby and kate and i was like why am i boxing myself in the morning again in this tiny little box because it's it needs to be a certain way and that's control so that's not from god either therefore when i break out of that I'm like, I felt so free this morning.

10:39I'm like, this is something, you know, we just have to take it one day at a time. I always, I started using this, like the 12-step program, take it one day at a time, you know. It doesn't have to be with alcohol or drugs or anything. It's really like, you want to better your life, take it one day at a time. Today I'm doing this, it makes me feel good. So I'm pretty sure if I take care of this today, tomorrow I'll feel better than I did today. And I think that's a beautiful way to, for me it's a beautiful way to live and you know i'm learning every day yeah yeah that's the thing

11:11Darin Olien:and there's also this part of there's control and also discipline right so like on the one hand i don't necessarily have this all figured out but i have a pretty good handle on it i know when i control things i can isolate i can kind of lone wolf my life pretty good and cut not not cut people off like oh cutting people like not that way but just so that's one thing on the other side there's discipline and discipline can slide into control pretty easily and it's also disciplined towards again i guess it depends on the vision like what's the vision like i know you got some products coming out i've got some stuff coming out like discipline is the thing like discipline create just like discipline and working out it's boring it's like you get to you know gotta do this again but it's like the vision is what pulls it and the vision is what creates you're investing into an outcome you don't necessarily know what the outcome's going to be but you're investing into something and sometimes that's not so sexy sometimes it's boring sometimes you know people are doing other things and it's easily but like

12:45Darin Olien:that's that's where i know i have a superpower in there but i have for me i have to be careful when i go into super controlling of that right yeah i mean and you're german so you automatically No, there's a lot of those things I had to, I'm still breaking on my own, you know. Because everything can become too much of a routine. And I've been reading this book, and I think I sent you some stuff like a while ago from this Man's Highest Consciousness. Man's? Man's Highest Consciousness. It's a really old book. And, you know, it goes all about like food, but also like the act of eating itself. It says like man eats to die, you know, because by the core, you know, without going too much into it, we evolve by not eating essentially.

13:40That's what I heard that for many different realms, you know. That's why, I mean, you fasted a bunch. I've been fasting a ton. In fact, I'm actually on my, I just started my second day today. I haven't really eaten. and it's interesting because with now the practices i i do on a daily base like trying to cultivate energy through breathing and like standing meditation and just like opening the body i've it's the first time i've i felt really good without having any dips so and in this book he also talks about did god design the human body so first of all when it comes to physical work when you go like 50 years ago to build roads and like work 24 7 and now you know you go in the present and you go on social media especially with men everyone is like go do more run 100 miles do this workout three times a day it's like the physical body i don't think it's designed to be abused like that so coming back to what you said with yeah there's certainly movement is important strength training is important but the the perfect dose for each individual we have to find ourselves and then that that line is really fine where it becomes like an obsession and then just another way of escaping and then when the ego steps in with you need to have a body like this and the i mean i've done it you've done it your entire life i've done it my entire life it's like I can get really good like this is what I do to have a routine and don't care about anything else but really all this kind of like broke away when I got married now and like with our son it's like what's really important because the more I occupy myself on a physical level so if I need to work out an hour two hours a day which I used to do sometimes even three hours how much energy do I have left in the tank for for my family or then you know for the community I'm building and so forth not much so it's this battle I'm really having in my mind or like within myself on a daily base but it becomes more and more clear where I'm like for me personally that's not the way anymore it serves me for a long time to go really hard train really hard but my body every cell in my body resists that now so if i do a workout it's not that i'm not fit it's just i don't feel good i get really bored really quick i don't like the act of doing those straight movements anymore at all and then the next day i just feel tired and i'm in pain so i know if you look in you know traditional and ancient traditional chinese practices like qigong tai chi there's a there's a way to cultivate energy even in martial arts right when you use because gravity does does a lot of work for us so if you if you think about like standing meditation and all this stuff if you actually pay attention there's another really good book i know if you read this um reality trend surfing have you heard of this one i'll send it it's amazing book too and he talks It's also about free energy.

16:52So there's constantly free energy available from the earth and from the heavens. And it runs through the meridians. You can only access it when you pay attention to it. And then you train it like a muscle. And then over time, all of a sudden, you can use it by feeling more grounded. Or if you train or you run, you can actually use it to be lighter in your body. and that's what for 10th of thousand years martial artists would do and practice it and i heard this those stories i had a friend he he trained with a a tai chi practitioner and a qigong coach or trainer or whatever you want to call it and this guy was in his 60s or 70s and he said there's no way i could ever move this guy's body it's like he's rooted in the ground because he doesn't use strength.

17:45It's just gravity. So that's really what I'm looking into more and more because for me it's like maybe, maybe, maybe this is also something. I'm going really hard in strength training and doing all those things and breaking down the body over and over. And again, all we are, we're busy recovering. I don't think God intended us or built us to live that way. So maybe, coming back to what you said in the beginning, maybe this whole act of going to the limit all the time comes from the devil because what happens if I'm tired and exhausted, sore, have no energy, I'm easily controllable because I'm not able to tap into my own energies or my intuition because I'm occupied, my body's under tremendous amount of stress.

18:39You know, it may, lots of people will disagree with me for that because it's also something we've been grown into or brainwashed into, you can also say that, because it has to be a certain way in our society in order to be a man or be someone who's successful. I mean, there's so many entrepreneurs out there now who, you know, if you don't work 24 hours a day, if you don't work out three hours in those 24 hours while you're working 24, it's like insane. So for me, it's really a lot of things shifted over the last couple of months where I'm like really trying to fully understand myself. And then what I'm interested in really is like, how can I cultivate more energy than an exert?

19:24Because when I have more energy cultivated than I give away, then I have energy to give to other people, family, friends, on anything I want to do. And to be really honest, I've never felt more present within myself and calmer within my body. And then all those questions I had for years, like, is this the right way to do? Is this the right way to eat? There's no question anymore. Because with all that practice, it comes a knowing. Yeah, you've had an interesting arc.

19:57Darin Olien:you know you've had an interesting journey and it's like it's really cool to see you married with your baby and the presence that you have just knowing you now for years but there's a there's a there is a peace within you there is a and and just outwardly you have more to give and you've been giving and you've been creating your own community you've been practicing and practice um having a practice and working with people and i'm sure that informs you because you have to tune in right it's all of this tuning fork of like another person and a thing so how much of that has been because the whole I mean the whole fascia world the whole like all of that stuff so how much has been working on people informed you about you tremendously because you know I see really everyone as a mirror we all can learn we learn from each and every individual we meet ever in our life whether it's just just someone you meet on the street and you have interaction with and a lot of times what happened to me is like i started seeing all those people and then literally everyone is why they come to me because the nervous system is dysregulated or they're in pain they have disease whatever it doesn't really matter there's something off in the body and then the more i work with people the more i'm like wait a minute there's patterns within myself i can see clearly through those people and a lot of times you know when it's all the people in the 60s 70s it's like this is just a mirror if i keep doing what i keep doing what i'm doing i will end up like this you know and this i realized it early on and now i'm like i see everyone with an open heart and as i said the more i'm gentle and loving to myself the more i feel just i can first of all hold space but also understand people differently And then the thing is really it's just all really the basic stuff.

22:09I'm showing people and I'm teaching people is just coming back to remembering what it feels like to actually be in your body. Because it's, you know, why are there a gazillion fitness coaches out there? There's a gazillion running coaches. It's fine. Great. And it's all great to do that. but the why needs to be dialed in for every single person. Why am I doing this? You know, there's, yeah, there's so many people, they may have been like addicts before in some form or the other, whether it's alcohol, drugs or whatever, and then all of a sudden they become addicts to fitness. Yeah, it's just, you're still doing the same, the pattern didn't change, the substance changed.

22:56so down the road when you keep doing this and i know i'll piss a lot of people off right now because when you keep doing this you still borrow time from the future because you're never present so if i overexert myself with anything yeah i can train my body but the body is incredible adaptable and that's what this guy says i forgot the author in the man's highest consciousness you can the with food for example the body adapts to it and then all of a sudden you need this in order to function.

23:27Darin Olien:So I'd like to take a moment to mention my amazing sponsors, the company Body at Shakeology, my baby, who I helped to formulate way back in 2006. Most people think of a protein shake as a quick fix, but Shakeology, because I know, was built with a completely different intention. It's superfoods. It's nutrient density. It's a superfood nutrition shake where quality actually comes first. I know this firsthand. When you talk about the quality story, we're talking about a refusal to take shortcuts. While most of the industry uses generic blends to cut costs, every single ingredient in Shakeology literally is individually researched, vetted, and sourced from global partners all over the world who meet the strictest standards of purity and sustainability.

24:23Darin Olien:We're talking about seven layers of testing. These are not just words. This is actual. From the raw ingredients to the finished bag to ensure that what's on the label is exactly what's in your glass. There are no artificial sweeteners, no fake flavors, no compromises. It's measurable quality that evolves with science. Experience the difference for yourself. I still drink this every single day. Head to Shakeology.com and use the promo code Darren O, D-A-R-I-N-O, one body, B-O-D-I, for 15 % off your order. That's Darren, D-A-R-I-N, the letter O, the number one body, B-O-D-I, to get 15 % off. I can't wait for you to try it.

25:17when you take it away, it's nothing different than heroin or any other drug. The body adapts it, so you need it. You get addicted to it, so if you take it away, every cell in your body starts screaming. So it's the same with anything else. It's just an outlet, a lot of those addiction. And I have an addictive personality. I did a lot of things in my life that I'm looking back on. I had to do it to learn from it. I'm like, well, I don't really have to do it anymore to feel something because I can't just be with myself and feel everything. And I think by the core, when, do you ever read this book?

25:51It's sort of like the counterpart to the book you said in the beginning, Conversations with God. So, you know, one of the greatest books I've read so far. And in this book, I truly believe that and feel it, that the soul only knows two emotions, which is love and fear. So fear, certainly from the devil, love is from God and why do we fear because we don't feel love and to begin with and then from fear comes anger resentment rage and so forth and then look in the world we live in so if I know we all manifestation of God in human flesh and we know God knows everything by the core we know everything so we don't have to go back to learn and schools all those things right yeah you learned something no you don't have to learn it's really the more i talk about this the more i practice it the more i'm like this is it's like it's like a movie it's crazy because you get brought in this world have literally your entire life in front of you and then the second again coming back to me i was chairman you i was born and the second i was born i get instead of having the world on my in front of me i could put in a little box this is the life you live till you pretty much die and by the core i always knew growing up like early on i would say this is not this is not for me i know i remember there was one i was like maybe like six five or six and then someone said to me and like this party friend of my father and they were like so what do you want to what do you want to do when you grow up and i'm like back then i remember we had this this newspapers at home and i was reading and there was an article in there about how some TV person made millions of dollars, millions of euros back then.

27:47And I told him I want to be a news reporter and he looked at me like I'm on a different planet. Not that I ever wanted to do that, it's just I knew there's something else out there. I ended up being a mechanic and all those things. but the labels we get put on early on if we're not waking up along that way we have to we carry till we die and that hinders us to step into our full potential yeah and what I believe in what I've seen is really I looked at some teachings from Ken Wilber and what he's when he talks about madam back in the day yeah yeah he's an interesting character i can imagine and yeah you know he one of the greatest things and i'll never forget and i will use for the rest of my life is like in order to wake up and grow up you have to clean up spiritually and emotionally so if i don't go back and feel those those feelings for example when i was about five years old i was I almost was drowning in this pool, in a swimming pool.

28:56And it was just I went into deep and I couldn't swim proper and my parents and my friends and my family were too far away. So I was like struggling really hard. And there was a lot of fear within myself from that. And also not feeling supported by the people I love. So I carried it for a long time. And then over the last year, the more I practiced like stillness and standing with myself, I went back into this in a calm state where I'm fully present, where my physical body is calm, relaxed, and my mind is still. And then I go back into this and just remember it and feel that emotion of fear. I realize it's just like, it's just an old memory.

29:42It's an old program. It's a program. And what we all do, and this is the biggest pandemic in a sense. it's the biggest disease we have as humans we're looking into the present moment through a lens from the past yeah so everything we experience in the past the good and the bad we always most of the time we bring the bad subconsciously into the present and then we replaying it and then we're projecting in the future therefore we in a in a loophole we never can get out of it right And that's why all those things, it just really comes back down to being willing to get your body out of fight or flight, calm your nervous system down.

30:27And then from that place, you can actually clean up as much as you want until the room is empty and clean. And then you just have to maintain it. But it's the stuff that nobody wants to do because it's kind of boring.

30:39Darin Olien:Yeah, well, it's not addictive. And to that point, this is like that busting of the matrix moment because 95 % of our choices are coming through this lens of past experience, a trauma, an idea, a concept that was imposed or you decided at that time. and so therefore you're running and sprinting trying to sprint from it you know reaching to the next thing that you you know money alcohol some sort of addiction love someone's gonna love it out of me you know whatever it is we're all doing it right 100 and like it hit me this morning like when I was it was a cooler morning it was great it was cold this morning I was like woke up going holy shit it's cold so I kind of got comfy and doing my meditation I'm like you know it's the most obvious is the is the thing we do the least and that is literally just doing nothing and sitting and listening and sitting and listening like like deeply present and I know I know this is like speaking to what you you know your constitution and what you're teaching and what you're moving into and practicing yourself.

32:25Darin Olien:But it's again, it's so obvious and yet very few people do it. It has the keys to freeing us if we so choose, right? And yet we hold on to it desperately, desperately, look at the world, desperately choosing out of the pain. Look around. Anyone you see online, anyone you see in the world is somewhere in there choosing from their pain. And it's usually sitting in that zero to eight range as the core, like a trauma, mom or dad, whatever they vomited on us and and there's no easy sexy way to get out of that other than face it and look at it and go is this true oh it's just a thing that happened and it's in my nervous system and it's a program and and I I love what you said because instead of making it wrong or us wrong or this event wrong, what if we just literally leaned into it, sat there with calmness, and maybe, maybe actually accepting it, allowing it, going, oh, that was appropriate at the time.

34:08Darin Olien:At the time. Yeah, exactly. It was absolutely perfect. And then you can interject right now and say, everything's always perfect. Like, there's no, body never makes one wrong decision ever. Ever. Right? We're not ever making a wrong decision. And this is going to piss a lot of people off. Maybe what's happening in the world is never wrong. No matter what. Yeah. And it's brutal to say that. because it's gnarly. I mean, it's gnarly. This setup is gnarly. And at the same time, I think immediately of my mom. I think of our dads. And it's like they passed, and yet I can confidently say, for me, that my mom is free of the challenges of her body and she's in a state.

35:11Darin Olien:I can feel her. So that's not wrong either. You know what I mean? So I don't mean to say, fuck all this fucking bad shit's happening. We're going to be good later when we die. That's not what I mean. I'm just aware of the complexity and that I always look at,

35:37Darin Olien:I mean this is on a grand scale when I see issues in the world I go there's that there's an issue what's the solution that's just in my DNA yeah like and then I just happen to look around I'm like oh there's a lot of people around me that I know that are also doing that like let's solve for things let's create a better world let's help people regulate let's let them pass you know what mean so it's i don't know about you dude but like the only way i can make sense of this whole thing is i chose to be here and i the only way out of to have full freedom is take 100 responsibility 100 and you know this you said a lot of really great things and it just came up it's like maybe and i never felt this this way but since when you brought up your mom now fathers maybe the emotion of grief comes up because we have no control over it of the situation so we want to control and then that pain of not being able to hold them in this life we call grief but it's just another way of us wanting to control the situation we're in so and then you know grief comes and goes obviously but if i and this is certainly easier said than done but if i truly surrendered to the here and now to the present moment and what you said about your mom she's and it's the same for my father he was suffering for 20 years and he passed overnight he would there was no suffering in the way he exited this this plane this earth plane and there was the best way possible for him to go so in a sense if we truly if i would have been where i am now in my life meaning like on a emotional level i would have probably yeah would be sad and that's very human i'm not saying no we shouldn't have emotions or feelings but we have a choice every single day we have a choice so i can feel sad or i can feel happy if i know that our default state state of as humans is love and happiness we just have we unlearned through all this stuff we have to learn how to feel that so the emotions is really like this is what i learned recently too it's like you have a choice every single time you feel something to either get angry or just let it go hence the traffic i can get really angry about it or just relax listen to music listen to podcasts a book whatever and just relax and it's you know there's it's those micro moments throughout the day when i take take action over those it changes my entire trajectory of my life because if how you do anything is how you do everything and it doesn't have to be always a great thing so like oh if you don't get up at like 4 a.m and jump in a cold lunch for 30 minutes you know like it's really as you said it gets the boring stuff it's like okay if i do the things start listening really to myself and go back and let go of this stuff and as a great way for me how i always do this and how i work with people is it has worked with everyone to this point i have them have everyone go back so you have to calm your nervous system down let's say you breathe for 10 minutes in and out through the nose slow and deep and then in that state first of all a lot of people already blown their minds because they never felt calm for decades then you i have them i tell them so now you go back into memory when you were a child whatever event it was where you felt the most scared worried or angry and then whatever they event they pick they go back to that and i have then you breathe another couple of minutes, however long it takes.

39:41And it will be shorter and shorter the more you practice it. And then I'm like, so what would you tell this little boy or this little girl right now if you could say something? They speak it out loud. And then I feel that. So they feel it. And then from that place, I'm like, so now you're in the present moment. You realize subconsciously that it's actually just talk to you in a child and you're grown up already. So that bridge, you gap this bridge so you understand it's just a memory. And then from that place, most of the time there's tears, whatever. And then I tell them, okay, so whatever you felt, I say, I always bring God in the center.

40:26I said, thank you God for helping me release the fear I felt when I was five years old because of X, Y, and Z. It's no longer mine to carry. thank you for helping release it now so I know there's something really powerful about when we speak the word God out because what you said in the beginning this makes even more sense now because if the devil controls everything and the first the second we speak God in existence when we really speak it out loud the devil has no control anymore so that's like it's like fire and ice right so all of a sudden you speak it out you let it go and then it's like the more you do that i do that constantly thank you god for letting this stuff go the more it's just another practice but you free yourself from hundreds of pounds of baggage yeah that we're carrying around and the more the lighter we become energetically right emotionally the lighter we

41:32Darin Olien:want to be in our life you know and it and it and it and it does show up that way it does show i mean just describing that practice that you bring people through it's like it's i think of it as life disruptions in the good way right because we're just automated we're just like again 95 of the subcon we're just making those those decisions we think we're free will but mostly they're just automating yeah and so like when you get to sit with someone and like disrupt the automation and interject with an awareness an expanded awareness and to be able to bridge the pain because again you're facilitating their inner healing so it becomes them healing them exactly right and it's less about you or any facilitator a good facilitator facilitates the person connecting to themselves in the space and creating that and i i mean i went through from 2025 I couldn't move, couldn't sit in this chair without being in severe pain.

42:54Darin Olien:And so my back led me back to birth trauma and like, oh, I thought I hit this. I thought there was more. And so not to get into that whole thing, but I then went about 100 days into a program where I was diving into disrupting everything in my life. There it is, there it is, mirror, mirror, mirror, like setting it up all over the place. And I, dude, I felt literally, I felt 200 pounds lighter. It's amazing. It's, it's, it's, I just say that to say the thing that people even listening to this right now will not stop. They will not stop and just breathe for 10 seconds. They won't do it. They won't do it.

43:49Darin Olien:Anyone listening right now, like, bullshit, I'm going to do it. They're not going to do it. I dare you, any of you guys. I dare you right now, even hit pause on this thing. Like, stop it and just breathe for 10 seconds with nothing. No music, nothing. I challenge you because it's like if we did that all of us take responsibility shift it down turn off your phone it is fucking so much noise bro I know there is so much noise and using this analogy of like the devil's done this work and it's like now it's dumping our brains into apps and you know you know sleep devices and like like i i'm all for like things to facilitate the body 100 but like when you're dumping when you're dumping your brain into claude chad gpt 24 7 you're not thinking and you're not sitting You're not receiving.

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45:09And you're just in the matrix.

45:15Darin Olien:You're being called. You're being called. Your energy, I love that you said all that because it's like your energy is being used by something else. It's being used by the apps. it's being used by social, it's being used by other people. People wake up and react. Turn on my phone, I didn't even set any clarity, any intention. I was completely unaware of my body because we won't stop. And then it's just like, what are we doing? Yeah. So I think as a society we're addicted to the noise and the pain and everything and the second it quiet sounds we become that the fear comes up because we not it's something we haven't felt in a long time and then we rather pushing it away instead of feeling it because it's painful so if you have to dig into the past and so forth and you re re feel it it's you know eventually becomes light it's like a detox in a sense like it's like if you eat chunk food your entire life and you do your first juice faster whatever it is you'll you'll be amazed how shit how shitty you can feel.

46:34But if you do another one and another one, all of a sudden you start feeling really good. And then for me, it's really why I know I'll never stop. It's like once you know how good you can feel, like once you felt 200 pounds off your shoulders, you're like, I'm never gonna go back to that. It's like, I'm not running around like with a rucksack that drags me down in my life and like closes doors because I'm not aware and pushes the right people away, brings the wrong people into my life. So it's like, no, you can become hyper-focused on just cleaning your mirror and your slate and just cleaning up.

47:11And then that's what I'm looking for. And as I said in the beginning, still a fine line because you can become addicted to that too. It's the same how some people become addicted to parasite cleansing, right? So you cleanse, cleanse, cleanse. It's all frequency. so a parasite a negative emotions and emotions it's all the same so if I have too much negative entities in my body whether it's emotions whether it's parasites in the physical realm and I give them all my energy hyper focus on it they're never gonna go away because you're the perfect host so yeah you take care of your health but also the biggest thing to kill parasites is self love and paying attention yeah okay how am I showing up for myself?

48:00And then from that place, you actually get rid of all those things. Because if I become light, let the light from God shine through me internally and then on the external, all the darkness that lives within me get outshined and has no place to go. Therefore, it leaves the host. And again, all this stuff is so simple. you know it's like jesus would talk about it all the time you know be the light of the world be it be it be in the world but not of it you know and it's sort of like the basic stuff give you the most return of in life in general and what i see now too is like when you live when I live a life that's truly like dedicated to becoming better as a human not like in any sport becoming a better human for other people really for other people because if I'm not better as a human for myself I can be better for others therefore I dedicate my life to becoming the

49:13Darin Olien:best version of myself for other people so and that's when people say one percent better every yeah you can still use this analogy but it's working in and not working out and the the paradoxical thing darren is the less i i worry about or the less i focus because wearing i don't really worry anymore but the less i focus on the my external the physical body and the more i focus on taking care of my inside the external automatically appears because what's happening is I'm way more guided by my intuition. And then when I feel the urge to do a set of pull-ups or muscle-ups or like swing a maze or kettlebell, I'm doing it.

49:59But I'm doing it like for maybe five minutes and then I'm done. I'm like, my body didn't change much at all. It's almost the opposite because I get out of pain and I have a friction of the amount of work to do to keep that alive. so it's more like it's all a belief system so if we believe something is happening i have to do x y and z in order to look a certain way yeah you'll end up living your life like this yeah but maybe it's not the truth maybe it's just another voice in your head it's like the ego is yelling and god is whispering maybe you always listening to the wrong voice yeah and that's that's a practice

50:40Darin Olien:itself too it's like you know because we're all used to whatever that voice is and that the the loudest voice is is the one that's most likely not true 100 right and and then we're getting yanked around listening to that freaking thing but the the if there's a superpower i know i've cultivated and i'm still practicing because i get lost too and i have to find my way back is that listening to those little voices that are like heart-centered and like oh what am i what do i care to do who who am i like and just and just sitting and sitting with the information that comes through that it's not loud it's strong when given some water right and it's shown up in a lot of different ways because i just innocently followed different paths and it's created superfoods it's flown me around i mean And even if I look at the roadmap to happiness, like the journey we're on there filming, it's like that's really just a, it really starts with like a voice in there going, God, I think this is something that means something to me to kind of put out something different.

52:22Darin Olien:You know what I mean? And it's a constant practice. But going back to what you're doing, it's like, I catch myself even saying that, because it's a way of being that you've been cultivating and practicing. and I love what you said in the sense of the more you listen, the more contribution you can be. And we say that flippantly. Put that gas mask, put the oxygen mask on yourself. But the practice of that is a different thing because you have to, you get to rectify what's working and not working in your life. And that's confronting for people. Even saying that right now, people know that they should have a conversation with someone that they love and they're not going to do it.

53:35Darin Olien:Or they're going to wait until something more intense shows up. it's like i don't like wrinkles in relationship i don't like it like even if now they're subtle i'm like yeah i gotta handle that same i just like i don't like the just because it it it starts building it starts creating other energies and it's like don't like it 100 it's like it's really how i always say is we all have a we have two cups one is a stress cup which for everyone who's listening we all know it's most likely over floating 24 7 and then the other cup is like you have a self-love cup and a love cup essentially which is most likely pretty empty and dry so are we not paying attention and action to actually flip things around okay what can i do on a daily base it's really not about adding anything into your life it's really about taking things away so i can get the stress cup a little bit lower therefore i have a little bit more room to fill my own cup and maybe there's a place where we all know the 80 20 rule and maybe there's a place where i can cultivate a life where i'm operating 80 in the parasympathetic in the rest in a chest mode and 20 % in the sympathetic.

55:05Because when that is the case, you realize all those questions, the needs to do, the needs to do anything extreme will go out the window. You've been many times to Europe or any South American country, South American country, to Spain, there's nothing happening from 1 o 'clock to 5 o 'clock or even longer. No, everyone is like, they have a lot of leisure time so how come we completely unlearned that it's like everything is go go go 24 7 and again what i said in the beginning i don't believe especially after reading this it made so much sense that god created us this human body to be abused like that but yet we all live in it like another routine another practice and then of course like now with all the peptides or the testosterone and all those hormone replacement therapies it's like yeah because now you have an answer for your problems an answer that's from the outside to fix something that's internally so you do that for a little bit and you keep doing the same stuff for another 10 years you have another burnout and eventually what's going to happen is like the physical body is going to decay so you have disease any sort of like maybe parkinson's cancer all those things come it's just another scream for help from the body and if you look at it this way it's like why i'm not stopping right now and start to listen okay i have lower back pain maybe it's not the best thing to run every day maybe it's not the best thing to take painkillers and cortisol shots to just do my thing keep doing my thing it's like if we would have a you can drive a porsche if you don't put it in the right gas and if you don't if you put it on the racetrack every single day how long you can drive it probably not so long right and it's nothing different with our bodies but like to be honest darian the more i do that the more i'm like this is crazy because it's so simple it's really so simple and every person i meet and i work with they're like it's so simple you're not telling me anything new and i'm like yeah and the the most important thing and you brought it up is when i work with someone or even every time i do an online class every time i meet someone it's like it's not me doing the work i'm just hypothetically speaking i believe everyone stands in front of the door which is the king of heaven is behind the door and we have forgotten how to put in the key and turn it around so if i can be the one of those guys who holds a hand and guides him and then once the key is in there everyone knows how to open the door opens up you walk in the room and then it's really up to you if you want to stay in there you just have to practice it's not going to be the prettiest room first to begin with but the more you practice the emptier it becomes and then once the room is empty you can build it as beautiful and as big as you want which is then essentially life but we have to go back to the understanding that every single human no matter where you're from no matter what's your background no matter what trauma you went through we by the core we all sovereign beings so if i know that i have a choice every second of my life i have a choice i can make a decision because by the core i'm so i can live a saw in life i'm completely living behind my own mirrors if i don't do that so if i take off those blindfolds of my eyes you start to see and then you can unsee it so do i have to feel angry all the time no i have a choice to make it's nothing different than if someone has a an allergy to tomatoes and you choose to eat them every day of course you feel like shit so i choose not to tomatoes because i want to feel better so if i feel angry upset all the time yeah you have a choice to make but in order to be able to make the choice you have to be conscious aware of that and that's where the practice comes in because without consciousness awareness you can't even make the choice so i always say that we we addicted to step over 100 bills to pick up a penny when it comes to practices.

59:33I say it all like people have no problem spending$150 ,000 on a hyperbaric chamber where they sit in there for an hour a day, feel good for an hour while they're in there and maybe 45 an hour, two hours after, but they don't want to sit down and just practice slow deep breathing into your entire body and letting your mind quiet down. Yeah, because it doesn't cost anything. So the body, your body, my body is breathing no matter what. But again, my belief, what I know, what I truly feel in every cell of my body is like, why do people, like my father, why did he die at 69? Well, if you're not listening for 69 years, he didn't listen for 50 years.

1:00:20Then all of a sudden, he got rheumatoid arthritis. So the body gives you signs, still didn't listen, still eats the worst diet, the fattiest pork you can eat every day. after a certain amount of times, after decades on end, our soul is going to say, you know what, I'm not going to be here to suffer all the time. Suffering is part of life. But you choose a path to suffer 24-7, I'm out of here. So body decays and we pass away and we move on. And then as a soul, you're free. So, you know, again, it comes back down to we have a choice. but it's we're so programmed into this life we're living and in a sense we also addicted to the life we live whether it's shitty food whether it's like terrible behaviors whether social media all those things it's an addiction coming back that's all by the devil it's all from the devil because everything it screams takes us away from listening to god's whispering and then what you said right if you sit you listen all of a sudden you come up with this amazing idea and you told me like you don't you you you were a star astound what kind of people all of a sudden wanted to collaborate with you on this tv show you sit in a room with all those amazing people that's not you doing it it's just like you opening yourself you free yourself opening the channel and those people come in and that's the hardest part for people to understand it's like oh you're so lucky darren like you get to spend time with all those people you get great no it's like i'm willing to dig 400 days into the garbage into the that i have on my back letting that go and then finally i'm actually able to listen and your entire life led you to this and then the more we listen the more amazing things happen in our life it's like the 10 year overnight success right like people now choose you have such a great life you do yeah yeah but it took me like for 10 years i was modeling i was miserable i was broken i was i just chose to do different and it doesn't take 10 years it just takes awareness and again one step at a time one day at a time if i if everyone would just take five minutes right if i'm completely stressed out arguing with my partner have a fight going on if you just stop and breathe for five minutes nothing else no music sit down or ideally in the beginning because your body's so stressed out and so hyperactive that you have to lay down and now you breathe into your stomach below your belly button you can bring the breath all the way down into perineum which is a space between your sex organ and your rectum which essentially is your root chakra so that's the first place we have to work through because if this is blocked we can't access our highest self which is the seventh chakra right so you have to go one day at a time and then if everyone to do that you realize

1:03:23Darin Olien:the i'm worrying about all the time is just stuff yeah and it just doesn't matter because if i hyper focus on it the negative things in the world if we focus on it hence news all those things we people want us to watch that whoever runs this ship the world if you focus put negative put put emotions and energy into the negative parts it's just gonna grow bigger and bigger the parasites grow bigger and bigger and bigger so again it's a choice i don't have to watch this i turn around i'm aware that's happening it's not great that it's happening but the only thing we can do to change it is to take cultivate more self-love loving ourself first and then from that place we can give a helping hand to other people and it could be the helping hand comes from the heart and not from the ego and wanting to get something back it's coming but because i cultivate the enough self-love that i can give love to other people and that's when you know ramdas talked about this we walk each other home yes but we have to also give people the ways to get there and this is what i dedicate my life to and i'm not i'm not saying i have anything like figured out completely i'm not a saint any by any means but i know when you focus on the simple things which god already gave us presence love quietness nature sunshine all those things the basic stuff which is boring because it first of all it doesn't cost a lot of money it just takes cost your time so if you focus on that you can cultivate I'm 100 % sure everyone can cultivate the life you want because once you start listening you start asking questions you ask yourself questions you ask people around you questions you may cut people out of your life, change different pathways and so forth perfectly said and I agree yeah I loved I feel like we're just having a conversation and this is beautiful and

1:05:45Darin Olien:just even in this moment I calmed even more just listening and just go practice now and like just my whole energy just shifted yeah because you're like there's always there will always be distractions right yeah and that's why i always i'm always an open book and i'm always completely honest with everyone when it comes to my own practice and everything because you know i used to be there's no one way or the other there's no right or wrong there's nothing wrong with anything that just is so but i also have to look at the the world we live in so if i for example if someone tells me you know i'm eating only one meal a day you can do that and it might be really good for the human body but to get there it's a journey right so if i have already like that's why the diets and all those things like you have to find your own way and eventually i know when someone's on the right path there's no question anymore and it just leads down one the road you know you and i we know which road that is and i when it comes to food and so forth we don't have to get into this i i did many detours in my life and looking back i'm like you know it's almost like i want to cut my my wrist open over and over again and and complaining why i'm bleeding out right it's like there's a sense of you have to have a conscious awareness when it comes to certain things, like when it comes to the energy we consume, is when I know what gets into this, and if I know, again, I have a choice, right?

1:07:32Do I want to partake in it or not? If I don't want to partake in it, and I know I can actually live a very, very healthy life without being part of all this suffering and so forth, if I choose to be part of it, it's from the devil, right? so so over the last couple months it's just this question completely went away because it's like it's not about the physical body for me anymore really and this is the first time i feel that i'm like no it's just because i want to feel a certain way on an emotional level and it's the same with anything else it's an addiction we can become addicted to food we come as i said beginning we get addicted to anything and the more we start paying attention and taking it one day at a time all of a sudden after three after 30 days after three months you start feeling better and better and then those micro changes what you just said or you talk about it i'm just practicing it for 60 seconds as i'm listening i feel better yeah and it's just again it's so simple but nobody wants

1:08:38Darin Olien:It's a distracting world. Yeah, everything is. It's out here. And the whole thing is in here. Everything is. Like literally, the kingdom of heaven is within. And if you know how to listen, and if you practice cultivating self-love, you're able to live your life with an open heart. When you live your life with an open heart and a clear mind, you'll never have a bad day in your life again. Because you realize everything is a teacher, everything every person is some i can learn something from every bad thing that happens there's something to learn from so kate was sick the last couple days and then theo got it a little bit our son and i'm like what can i learn from that yeah i learn from it that slowing down and taking more care of my family it's not my fault that they got sick but i can learn from it maybe Maybe I should not get up at 5 a.m.

1:09:34and go running, hiking crazy trails and doing all this crazy stuff outside. Maybe there's a different approach. Maybe in this season I'm in, maybe I can just slow it down. And if I know it means a lot to my wife to wake up next to me and not waking up every day alone with the baby in the bed, maybe there's a way to cultivate my life around that more so I can give her what she needs. the baby is in a calmer state

1:10:04Darin Olien:and I can do my practice throughout the day or later on, doesn't matter we have a choice to make it's pretty amazing because it's literally all so simple, everything is so simple but it comes back down to whether we want to do it or not well you're doing it thank you, I'm trying my best as I said, one day at a time Again, it's a practice. This life is a practice. But 100%, it's inside of us. And if there's a message to take, that everyone has their own path to figure out. Yeah. And it's not from out there. There might be indicators, you know, the remnants of energies that you can see out going, oh, that's cool, or I resonate with that.

1:10:58Darin Olien:like great those are indicators but though the list that true listening is not 100 and yeah one thing is like what i realize is also the more i i'm on this journey i have way more compassion for other people and i used to be the person who's like if you don't do this if you don't x y and z you'll never be healthy you'll never no i'm not doing it any i'm the furthest away from this what What I do is, all I can do is lead by example. So if people come to me for my practice, and I had people come to me, they were really successful, and they were like, I wonder what you have. It seems like you have real inner wealth.

1:11:41It's like, well, that's the kingdom of heaven. It's within you, every single person at that. That inner wealth, you'll find you unlock when you practice it, when you practice listening. because the external the shit all fades it doesn't matter like all this stuff doesn't matter yeah it's nice I like nice things too you know nothing wrong with it but when you come from a place as I said like from an open heart and you want to actually do good for others like genuinely do good for others the path appears 100 % and the path looks different as you said for everyone 100 %

1:12:20Darin Olien:yeah and that's the That's the surrender of that and the trust in it. One thing helped me really, Darren, is when I know God exists, because otherwise it's like a mind thing, right? If I truly believe and know God exists, the trust part completely goes out the window because there's a knowing. So I don't have to trust anymore, I know that's the only way. therefore I don't have to worry there's no worry, there's no fear so if I have no worry, no fear and I fully know this is the path it's a feeling we all feel on a daily base there's a little bit of like gut instinct, gut feeling we all have but nobody's listening so from that place it's like this is a way and I'm gonna stay on this way no matter what comes and you know, it's not gonna be always easy because God creates conditions in order for us to know how it is without them.

1:13:23So if it was only sunshine and rainbows, we wouldn't appreciate that. Yeah, we wouldn't be here. Exactly. It's 75 and sunny in California, and then all of a sudden, all year round, when it's hard, we complain. Well, I appreciate you.

1:13:37Darin Olien:I appreciate you, my friend. Thank you, brother. Thank you. Yeah.

From the publisher

What if the very habits you believe are making you stronger are actually keeping your nervous system trapped in stress, disconnecting you from your intuition, and preventing you from becoming who you really are?

In this deeply personal conversation, Darin sits down with holistic health and movement practitioner, coach, former international fashion model, and new father Jules Horn. After years of pushing his body through grueling workouts, rigid routines, and relentless physical discipline, Jules began questioning whether the modern obsession with hustle, extreme fitness, and constant optimization was actually another socially acceptable form of escape.

Together, Darin and Jules explore the difference between working out and working in: constantly spending energy versus learning how to cultivate it. Jules explains how marriage and fatherhood have forced him to reconsider routines that once defined his identity and ask a radically different question: instead of seeing how much his body can endure, how can he create enough energy, presence, and inner peace to give more to the people he loves?

The conversation moves far beyond physical fitness into childhood programming, nervous system regulation, addiction, grief, self-love, spirituality, stillness, and the extraordinary difficulty modern humans have simply sitting with themselves. Jules shares how revisiting childhood experiences from a regulated state helped him recognize that much of what we experience in the present is being filtered through memories and emotional programs created years or even decades earlier.

Ultimately, this episode challenges one of the dominant messages of modern culture: that becoming better requires doing more. Jules argues that some of the greatest transformations may come from doing less, listening more deeply, cultivating self-love, regulating the nervous system, and realizing that the "inner wealth" we're constantly searching for outside ourselves may already be within us.

What You'll Learn
  • Why extreme fitness and hustle culture can become socially acceptable forms of escape
  • The difference between discipline and control
  • Why Jules traded constant physical breakdown for energy cultivation
  • How marriage and fatherhood completely changed his relationship with fitness and routine
  • Why addiction can move from drugs or alcohol into exercise, work, food, or self-improvement
  • How childhood experiences can continue programming our choices decades later
  • Why regulating the nervous system can help us confront unresolved emotional patterns
  • How silence, breathwork, and doing nothing can become powerful tools for self-awareness
  • Why cultivating self-love may allow you to become more present for everyone around you
  • How to stop searching outside yourself and begin developing genuine "inner wealth"
Chapters

00:00:03 – Welcome to SuperLife

00:00:32 – Sponsor: Alkemis

00:03:24 – Introducing Jules Horn

00:04:50 – Outwitting the Devil and the systems that keep people trapped

00:06:43 – Fear, control, and how populations become easier to influence

00:07:50 – Free thinking, vision, and purpose as the antidote

00:08:46 – Setting your direction when the world throws obstacles at you

00:09:38 – The traffic lesson: surrendering what you cannot control

00:10:02 – Jules realizes his morning routine has become another prison

00:11:03 – The dangerous line between discipline and control

00:11:57 – Why meaningful creation requires boring consistency

00:13:18 – Fasting, energy cultivation, and questioning conventional wisdom

00:14:13 – Is the human body really designed to be pushed this hard?

00:14:58 – When fitness becomes obsession and escape

00:15:19 – Fatherhood changes Jules' definition of what matters

00:16:00 – Why Jules' body started resisting extreme workouts

00:16:34 – Qigong, Tai Chi, and cultivating rather than spending energy

00:18:03 – Does constantly pushing yourself make you easier to control?

00:18:55 – The insanity of modern hustle culture

00:19:17 – How to cultivate more energy than you expend

00:20:12 – The inner peace Darin sees developing in Jules

00:20:41 – Why everyone you meet can become a mirror

00:22:22 – The question everyone should ask before exercising

00:22:45 – When addiction simply changes its disguise

00:23:27 – Sponsor: Shakeology

00:25:15 – Why the pattern matters more than the substance

00:25:37 – Love, fear, and learning to sit with yourself

00:26:49 – The boxes we're placed inside from childhood

00:28:01 – How early labels can prevent us from reaching our potential

00:28:24 – Wake up, grow up, and clean up emotionally

00:28:54 – Jules revisits a terrifying childhood memory

00:29:35 – Are you experiencing today through the lens of your past?

00:30:33 – Why so many of our choices may be driven by old programming

00:31:37 – The incredibly simple thing almost nobody wants to do

00:32:50 – How unresolved childhood pain can shape adult behavior

00:33:32 – Stop fighting the past and start facing it

00:35:35 – Turning problems into opportunities to create something better

00:35:53 – Why freedom requires taking 100% responsibility

00:36:25 – Grief, death, surrender, and our desire for control

00:38:23 – How tiny daily choices change the trajectory of your life

00:38:47 – Jules' process for regulating the nervous system

00:39:11 – Using breathwork to revisit childhood memories

00:39:53 – Speaking to your inner child from the present moment

00:41:00 – Releasing the emotional baggage you've carried for decades

00:41:55 – Disrupting subconscious automation

00:42:40 – Darin's own journey through pain and unresolved trauma

00:43:43 – The ten-second challenge almost nobody will do

00:44:16 – Turn off your phone and reclaim your attention

00:44:49 – Are you outsourcing your mind to apps and AI?

00:45:29 – Where your energy goes when you wake up reacting to the world

00:45:57 – Why we've become addicted to noise

00:46:38 – What happens when you finally experience emotional lightness

00:47:21 – When healing itself becomes another obsession

00:47:48 – Self-love as the foundation for changing your inner environment

00:48:47 – Becoming a better human for the people around you

00:49:14 – Working in instead of constantly working out

00:50:26 – The ego screams while intuition whispers

00:51:24 – Learning to hear the quiet voice that actually guides you

00:52:37 – Why taking care of yourself allows you to contribute more

00:53:21 – Don't ignore the small fractures in your relationships

00:53:49 – Your stress cup versus your self-love cup

00:54:41 – What if your life was 80% rest-and-digest?

00:55:37 – Why external solutions can't fix an internal problem

00:56:31 – Your body may already be telling you to stop

00:57:18 – Why the simplest practices can produce the biggest changes

00:58:04 – Sovereignty begins with recognizing that you have a choice

00:59:09 – Awareness is what makes choice possible

00:59:29 – Why people spend thousands to avoid something that's free

01:00:16 – What happens when you ignore your body's signals for decades

01:00:58 – The noise that keeps you from hearing the whisper

01:01:20 – What becomes possible when you finally start listening

01:02:01 – The truth behind the "overnight success"

01:02:26 – Five minutes of breathing can change your state

01:03:14 – Stop feeding everything that's wrong with the world

01:03:47 – Self-love as the starting point for helping others

01:04:39 – Presence, nature, sunshine, silence, and the basics we've forgotten

01:05:36 – Darin feels his own energy shift during the conversation

01:06:09 – Why there is no single perfect path for everyone

01:07:38 – Moving beyond health as a purely physical pursuit

01:08:20 – Everything you're looking for outside may actually be within

01:08:46 – Living with an open heart and a clear mind

01:09:28 – Fatherhood teaches Jules that slowing down can be the practice

01:10:21 – Life itself is the practice

01:10:47 – Your path cannot be found outside yourself

01:11:09 – From telling people how to live to leading by example

01:11:34 – The inner wealth successful people are actually searching for

01:11:58 – What happens when you genuinely want to serve others

01:12:34 – Moving from trust into knowing

01:12:59 – The gut instinct almost nobody listens to

01:13:18 – Why difficulty gives meaning to the good

01:13:38 – Closing thoughts

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Find More from Jules Horn Connect with Darin Olien: Key Takeaway

"We have been conditioned to believe that becoming better means doing more, pushing harder, training longer, waking up earlier, achieving more, and constantly searching outside ourselves for the next answer. But eventually you have to ask whether all that movement is actually growth or whether you're simply running from yourself. The deeper work is quieter. Regulate your nervous system. Sit still. Breathe. Listen. Face the memories and patterns you've been carrying. Cultivate enough love and energy within yourself that you actually have something left to give to the people you love. Your path doesn't come from another workout, another device, another guru, or another voice screaming for your attention. The real work begins when everything gets quiet enough for you to finally hear what's already inside you."

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