Episode 199: Connecting Mind, Body and Spirit with Andrea Riggs

[INTERVIEW]

 

Jon: This is the Achieve Your Goals Podcast. Welcome, everybody. It’s episode 10 trillion and 45. I don’t know. I don’t keep track. I’m here with the lovely Andrea Riggs and stop whatever you’re thinking about, whatever you’re doing unless you’re driving. Drive safely. And I want you to know that Andrea is somebody who has been a nucleus, a catalyst for our Best Year Ever Blueprint community and even if you don’t know what that is, let me just tell you that the value that she has created that I’ve been able to personally witness has been incredible in what she helps, and this is my words, she’s probably going to correct this and really elevate this but what I’ve witnessed, Andrea, is you teach people how to connect to their bodies, their mind, their soul in a way that opens them up to new possibilities in their lives.

 

On the surface, it could look to somebody like what you’re doing is you are exceptional at leading people whether it’s yoga or some kind of physical movement but everyone in our community who’s had the privilege of being around you has noticed it’s a lot deeper than just the physical movement. And so, Andrea, it’s an honor to have you on the podcast. It’s a privilege to call you a friend and I’m really excited for us to have a conversation about you, your journey, your wisdom. I know it’s going to help a lot of people. So, that’s your intro. How did that sound? Is that okay?

 

Andrea: Yeah. I had to stop for a minute because I was getting a little choked up inside. Yeah. I actually love to hear how people interpret me because everyone has a different interpretation of different experiences and what I do absolutely is moving people physically so that they can be moved emotionally and I think that’s been also a big like aha for me being really great with movement and really great with people and then seeing how the depth of which that something so simple like a little dance or this that may seem really lighthearted actually can really ground people and center people, and in a way that sometimes I don’t even understand. So, thank you for that.

 

Jon: Yeah. Well, we’re going to talk all about that. And as soon as you said what you just did, one of the things that I want to make sure we get to today is you said something just now that the words that sometimes it’s like a little dance. You lived your life that way and I want to make sure that our listeners get to hear about how you approach life because I really admire that the way that you raised your kids along with your husband, Charles, I mean, you have chosen to ask yourselves what do we value and figure out how do we align everything from who we’re around to how we spend time together with those values and a lot of people who watch your journey are in admiration of that. So, I want to make sure we get to that.

 

Here’s where I wanted to start our conversation. I thought it’d be fun. There’s a part of our relationship that a lot of people don’t know which is when I first met you and it was kind of when all of this started. I was at Vitamix and there was a sales meeting that you are at and we had just started to kind of create this culture at Vitamix where our meetings were evolving from like old-fashioned meetings to like a more modern meeting to say the least where our meetings were incorporating a lot of different experiential elements so that we weren’t just sharing ideas but hopefully elevating the wellbeing of everybody that was a part of the culture.

 

And I remember one of our big conferences, I can’t remember if it was one of our like 50 or several hundred-person events, I met you and you had offered, you said, “Hey, I have a capability. I could go up on that stage and I could lead this entire room through movement whether you give me a few seconds or a few minutes,” and our attitude was, “Anybody who has a talent or a skill, let’s see what can happen,” and I remember the first time you did that and I was standing in the back of the room next to DJ B and I turn on him I’m like, “Whoa, she’s like a professional.” I had never seen somebody who could command hundreds of people who had no clue what they were about to be led through which happened to be some exercise movement kind of thing and you did it without a microphone. You did it with whistling and hand gestures, but you were a pro.

 

Andrea: All clean hand gestures.

 

Jon: Yeah. All clean. Thank you for clearing that up. But you are a pro, Andrea. So that’s when I met you.

 

Andrea: Well, Jon, I would love that to actually be the beginning but you’re wrong. That wasn’t the very beginning. It was in DC.

 

Jon: Let’s go way back.

 

Andrea: Yeah. It was in DC. I was also a Vitamix rep and I was also contracted with Zumba Fitness and the manager Jarrod, it was a small meeting and Jarrod, he was my buddy, right?

 

Jon: Oh yeah. Now I remember.

 

Andrea: I’m like, “Jarrod, dude, these get stale. I can move people around a little bit because it’s boring to sit in a chair and listen to a meeting. It just is.” So, he had me do that and you were there and then you said, “Hey, can you come do that thing you did for the conference?” But really you didn’t know, I mean, you had seen me like for what? A few minutes? And then…

 

Jon: A couple of minutes. Yeah.

 

Andrea: Yeah. Not long and then you let me be in front of all these people and it was so fun like really it was a lot of fun because you have Vitamix reps that all have on their Vitamix shirts and making smoothies and gloves and hairnets and the next thing you know they’re all dancing and really coming together in a beautiful way.

 

Jon: So, now that you brought me back to the time when we actually met for the first time, I remember that vividly and that tells me right there it’s a beautiful lesson, not that there was some intentionality but that meeting when I first met you, that was a very rare circumstance that I in the role I was in would be at that particular meeting. It was almost unconventional that I was at that particular meeting. And one of the things that remind me of, hearing you now remind me of the story, is that how we never know when some sort of chance interaction could lead to something far beyond what we think is possible in that chance interaction. And the other lesson that it reminds me of so that one, I’ll call that an accident. We could call it synchronicity. We could call it whatever we want. But it wasn’t something I intentionally did. The one I’ll take a small amount of credit for was part of my philosophy in that role was find people’s strengths and then give them the wings to put those strengths to work.

 

So, it wasn’t very difficult when I saw you for two minutes to say, “Oh, that would work in front of hundreds of people when there’s a lot more on the line,” and that was however many years ago. And then let’s fast-forward a little bit. Years after that, our mutual friend, Hal Elrod, had asked me to help him to put on his first live event, our Best Year Ever Blueprint Event back in 2014 and you were one of the first people we called because we knew we wanted to create a culture in these events where people were physically engaged, and you were at the first Best Year Ever Blueprint Event. In some ways, you were the entire leadership team. Now it’s like a 40-person volunteer team. You were the whole team. What do you remember of the event? Because I know how I see it. I’d love your recollection of you coming to support that first event. It was huge. You were in the lead, so it was awesome.

 

Andrea: It was huge. And I want a presence that coming from fitness really because I have a lot of experience in fitness. And then being in the space of a conference like I was in Vitamix and also transitioning into the Best Year Ever, there’s a lot to be said for the lesson that you took away and that there are a lot of lessons that I looked back at that time of my life as well and realized by me standing up for something that I love and doing something that was totally no big deal in saying, “Hey, Jarrod, let me move with some people.” I didn’t know you would be there. I didn’t know what that would transform into.

 

And like what a beautiful cause that is to just simply really follow that intuition because by me doing that, by you being there like something beautiful and much bigger than you or I could’ve imagined has really come out of that. So, the reason why I was really a force for the Best Year Ever Blueprint is because Jon had sent The Miracle Morning, the book, to my doorstep while I was a Vitamix rep and also contract to the Zumba Fitness and there was a lot of like turmoil in my life surrounding that because I wanted to do my own thing and I had all of the things I wanted to do and there was a lot of fear behind that. So, the Miracle Morning had actually been a pivotal book for me, so it wasn’t just like, “Hey, Andrea. You’ve got talent and skills and you can dance with people. Come here.” I really am a firm believer that you align with the people that you really, really concretely align with more than just like, “Oh, they’ll get me somewhere or if I do this then I’ll be able to do that.” You know what I mean? There’s a different energy surrounding why we do the things that we do.

 

And so, I wanted to support that movement because that had moved my life in a really powerful way and I was happy to support that. So, that first year was really I’d say spontaneous like there was a lot of spontaneity around. I remember Hal’s wife, Ursula, there in the leadership group. I remember some curse words happening so I’m like, “Should we do that? Yeah. Let’s do that.” I mean, I’m very spontaneous so I’m just like, “Yeah, sure. Let’s do that. Jon, when do you want me to go on? Jon, would you like me?” “Andrea, you know, yeah, if I say your name just get up there.” “Sweet. Sounds good for me.” And imagine if I was so much different, it probably wouldn’t have worked for me. It probably would have absolutely like been very, very difficult because when you’re so planned and so organized which these are qualities that we think are so fantastic and great, well, what about spontaneity like resetting the energy in the moment?

 

Like, Jon, you’re really good at that. Like the energy is down, “Gosh, get Andrea up there or get brotha James,” or whoever it is in that moment of time. That’s like magic to me. So, it was an experience that I really loved. It really opened my eyes and it connected me from kind of my, not my old life in fitness but really those talents and skills that I had really harnessed and then brought a lot more of what I love like the personal developments and like the real work. It’s the good stuff. It was like this beautiful marriage and it just has continued to grow every year.

 

Jon: It has, and you just said a couple of things, Andrea, that I want to ask you about in these words, spontaneity and intuition, and I want to make a comment about this too. In my personal journey, I have become interested in different philosophies and schools of thought. And one of those has led me down the path of studying systems which is an awkward word like when a lot of people hear the word system, they either think of like some sort of information technology system or they think of something that they’re a victim of that they can’t control. But a system is any combination of interdependent parts. I study human systems, groups of people, communities, organizations, teams, families and what are the principles even if they’re invisible that that drive the evolution of those?

 

And one of the things that that has led me to is learning that systems have certain principles. One of those principles is it literally has a direct relationship with the word, spontaneity, and one of the things that led me to learn and I want to just honor that word and your appreciation for it and then ask you how has it played a role in your life is I’ve learned that spontaneity, some people can interpret spontaneity like all of us might know somebody like maybe you and I are this way. We might know people who we would say, “They’re very spontaneous people,” and I have noticed in my experience that that sometimes can have an attachment or an interpretation that some people might think of as almost a carelessness or a thoughtlessness. And what our research and my personal experience has shown me is that real authentic spontaneity, it’s not about a recklessness as it can look like that but it’s actually about being so connected to the present that we’re able to shift directions towards an opportunity that emerges in the present.

 

And maybe I’m saying all this because it just makes me feel better about myself but I’m sure I am. I’m sure this is to make myself feel better about myself, but I actually learn that about a scientist who said, “If you study nature and systems, spontaneity is actually one of the governing 12 principles. And if you look at that principle, it’s not about recklessness. It’s about actually being so present that we can then explore opportunities as they emerge.” And by the way, when I say those words, I feel like that describes how you and I operate and how I watch you operate and I’ve seen you operate that way with your whole life. Spontaneity and intuition, what’s your view on those words or the role they play or don’t play in how you do things?

 

Andrea: Yeah. So, they’re probably two of my most favorite words and what I’ve learned about myself because really, I think that that’s so much about what this life is about is really understanding ourselves at a very deep level, what moves us, what makes us feel alive, what makes us tick, what triggers we have, why we have those triggers, why we look at life through one very specific lens and how I can go to Africa in ninth grade and see children. And this little boy in a blue sweater and he wore the same blue sweater and shorts every day and he had a big smile on his face and how can I walk away from that, moved, that, “You know what, actually we don’t need anything to make us happy like happiness comes from inside,” and someone else having that experience maybe that same time of their life could walk away with a complete different interpretation.

 

So, for me, spontaneity is 100% what you’re saying, Jon, because I would say that the groundedness a person has to really have with not only themselves in any moment so take The Miracle Morning or take the Best Year Ever Blueprint so it’s a live event. There are hundreds of people, there are lots of moving parts. Jon is leading it. There are different speakers. It’s a lot of up and down. And if there wasn’t the intuition which I would, your gypsy spirit is what I would call that, but some people hear is a voice, some people just feel it, some people are like, “What are you talking about? I have no idea. My brain has 10,000 voices and I just like choose one to listen to,” like we all have a different sense of how we really, really truly feel and when you’re really in touch with that, with your intuition, then your actions will back that up.

 

So, it’s like, okay, here’s my spirit, here’s my intuition. Jon’s moving through it. Maybe I feel the energy in the room and I’m at another place and I feel this and my ability to take action on that feeling, that’s spontaneity. Because what you miss out on when you’re not living in that circle, in that space, it’s like no. It’s like, well, here’s my list of to do’s. I had 10 on the list that I did, and I guess today was a great day. And you’re completely discounting like the magic, the feeling of a lightness and, honestly, I think that that’s like what is lacking in the world today.

 

Jon: I love that. I love that. Well, so Andrea, you are at our first event, Best Year Ever Blueprint. You’ve been at every event since then. We just finished our most recent one a few weeks ago. What was your thought on what unfolded there? And then I want to make sure we ask you, want to make sure we talk about your book and your course that are coming out and some of the lessons that you’re teaching people. But before that, we can’t have this conversation and not acknowledge what just went on. What did you learn by what you saw unfolded at that event? What was your experience?

 

Andrea: So, I think when I’m in that space of giving and being of a leader and I’ve done that from the beginning of time, I’ll just take a real moment to really honor you and also Hal. Hal wasn’t there the year before because he was fighting cancer and having this year for me something was really different. I think I’m in a great space like with my life. I feel great about everything I’m doing. I feel more grounded than I’ve ever felt, and this is the Achieve Your Goals Podcast and setting those goals and going for that, it can be a very, very difficult space. It can be lonely and just hard and torturous and strenuous and when you go to an event like that then you’re being elevated. You’re hearing other people speak. You’re really getting to know Hal and Jon and all these people the real story, the true story, not just the Instagram story or the Facebook story but actually get to know them and understand their energy and what that’s about.

 

So, for me this year, I’m a certified Baptiste Yoga teacher, I was able to teach in the mornings. That was magical for me like magical. People coming in from all different walks of life and doing something new, doing something new on their mat, doing something new in the conference, and then going out and doing something new in their life, it was really moving for me and it really is my family, there are so many people there that I really love like really. There’s a mastermind that Brie and Natalie and Lindsay and I started. These are people I met from the conference. So, you never know what your takeaway is going to be, and it definitely isn’t going to be the one that you probably wrote down on paper of like what I’m going to get out of this conference. It’s going to be maybe a relationship or something of that nature. So, when I go into that space I just stay open and that’s my big, big, big, big thing is that when you can walk into a space and actually like feel what you feel, see what you see, experience what you experience then consider that you don’t actually have to make a list that what you need in your life. It will appear for you.

 

Jon: So, Andrea, I did have a question that emerged for me. As you were talking about the joy of leading people through yoga, I would love to know what have you learned about human potential or the human spirit as somebody who is a teacher of others who are breaking through their own barriers whether it’s through yoga or other ways that you’ve coached them? Because you’ve been in a lot of environments where you are there leading or helping others whether it’s through physical activity or otherwise. What kind of lessons has that taught you about the human spirit and what happens when we try and break through? Just been curious from your perspective, any thoughts on that?

 

Andrea: Yeah. A lot of thoughts actually so much so that I wrote a book about it. And I think that it’s easy to look at life and it’s easy to look at others and say, “You know what, like this is what you need to do,” or coming from fitness, “Okay. Here’s the correct form of what you need to do.” And that space, I was talking to someone about this just the other day. When we go into a space and we think we are just the leader and we think we’re just the teacher, we miss out on the whole other aspect. And so, I would say that one of my like inherent qualities is really curiosity like really being curious about people, being curious about myself. So, these unleashing, if you will, of your intuition for me as I research and as I like really dug in my life and looked at other people and looked at the struggles that I’ve struggled with and the struggles that other people have had and seen similarities in those ways, that’s been a huge teacher for me, just staying humble and teach about myself and to continue to do the work.

 

So, in Baptiste Yoga, we talk about like just doing the work. Like you didn’t have to like yoga. It’s going to work because you can even actually hate yoga but if you get on your mat and you do it then it doesn’t even matter because you’re going to reap the benefits of it. So, there’s magic in doing the work and there’s also magic in understanding that there is no utopia. There is no like Mount Kilimanjaro or Mount Everest that we’re going to get to the top and beat our chest and be like, “I won. I won the game of life.” No, no, no, no like that’s where the spontaneity and this like childlike curiosity comes about and this really is how I live my life. And the way that I’ve done that this by really falling down because if you really do look at a baby learning to walk, they fall a lot and I would say I have fallen a lot because it’s how I choose to live. So, you can either choose to live.

 

My belief is you either choose to live with like, “Hey, this is who I am, love me or leave me,” and either way it’s all good because I’m super confident with who I am. I’m grounded in my space. I have my personal power and also if you like me, great. If you like my class, if you like me at this conference or whatnot, great, and if you didn’t, great. Go find, move towards that which moves you and if we consistently are doing that, who’s to say your path is right or wrong. There is no right or wrong. So, this attitude of me looking at my own life it’s true like it is a daily thing for me. I don’t ever go through a day where I’m like, “I’ve got this. I’ve got this down like I’m the leader of this and there’s nothing else I need to learn.” Like, are you kidding? I think that’s been one of the things I’ve had to overcome and really become very, very self-aware of is how many inherent gifts I have, the skill that I have really harnessed and the benefit and the value they are for others. Because when I stand in my greatness, everything about me is great. When I come to the conference, I can show up great and I can enhance Hal and Jon and everyone else by me being powerful in my space and I would cause that for other people too that as soon as you step into your greatness and your power that everything else in your life begins to be magnified in a positive way.

 

Jon: I love everything you just said, and I love that insight. I would love to know, Andrea, what is your perspective on the relationship between our physical movement and what we do with our bodies physically and how that allows us to open up our minds, our hearts? What’s your perspective on that relationship between what I do with my body and what happens in my mind?

 

Andrea: That is so good. So good. It really is so good, and it seems so simple yet there have been millions of books written about this and this and that and the other. So, what I would say about this topic is that when I go into a conference or any fitness class for that matter, there’s people that look at me very seriously like kind of a blank space especially when in a conference where people may be a bit dressed in their business attire, maybe they have their coffee cup and they are not prepared for me shaking my hips and what I’m asking of them is not as comfortable as one might think. It’s very vulnerable. It’s a vulnerable space. And so, what I do and what I’ve learned is really the power of it is that when we move physically, it opens us up to be moved emotionally and that really is something that, Jon, I feel like you’ve helped me understand as well, the power of that in every way of life, not just in a fitness class, not just in your yoga class, even at a conference, even in all of these other spaces, yeah, absolutely.

 

So, the ability I will tell you that when I go to a Baptiste Yoga training, it’s a weeklong training and there are many other. The Best Year Ever is a three-day conference. These aren’t a one-hour block of time. These are enough time to be able to be moved emotionally and physically in other ways and I believe so powerfully. Most people don’t understand that learning in our mind maybe one thing but the conscious mind, there’s so much in the subconscious. There’s so much in our tissues like our issues are really in our tissues. I consider that if you choose to not move that all of this in here that it’s not circulating through your body. When you breathe, when you move, you’re working through and when things are through, I get chills and I get chills right now because like it’s just true. So, if there’s a problem in your life which I can’t imagine that any of us have problems, right?

 

Jon: I haven’t had one for at least three or four minutes.

 

Andrea: Exactly. Exactly, Jon, because you’ve gone to the at utopia in the last three or four minutes. And also like if I come to you with a problem and I say, “Jon, oh my gosh, I’m struggling with this. It’s a big problem for me,” and you’ll be like, “Andrea, that’s not a problem. Here’s do A, B and C.” “Wait, so you’re saying my problem isn’t a problem for you? Well, okay.” Yeah, a problem only is based a problem because of what it does to you internally so consider that you’re just not like moving through it. We have to move physically, sweat, detox, move through circulation, all of that is healing. All of it. All of it. So, there’s a powerful link between moving physically and being moved emotionally and most people may not even understand it. You may not even understand it. You may not even understand what you work through but what I’ve seen in my own life is that when I’m okay to do the work, when I really am in the inquiry of it, when I take space for meditation and my own mindfulness and then when I do the actual like work via sauna or the workout or whatever it is that is usually when I’m moving physically that my brain gets what I needed to get.

 

Jon: Yeah. Well, I can speak from direct observation and personal experience and a big visible expression of what we’re talking about is the Best Year Ever Blueprint Event we just ran. We got 400 people from 15 or 20 some countries and for three days people are asking, “Wow. Why is this event,” I mean in their words, they told us, “This is going really well. You can literally see and feel things are going really well,” and when people ask what are the success factors? And there’s not just one but one of them definitely is, hey, if our belief and you helped lead this is if people move, there is no separation between what we do to take care of ourselves. That’s why we had six of the top eight most detoxifying plants surrounding our stage. A lot of people they don’t even know. A lot of people thought they are fake and whether they knew it or not, they probably thought, “Oh, they did that, so it looks really beautiful.” It does.

 

Andrea: They don’t know you, Jon. They don’t know you.

 

Jon: Yeah. They might not realize it. We also have these plants that measurably detoxify the air in the room and then you are moving people and that movement we believe that what we’re witnessing is it opens people up intellectually, emotionally, relationally, all of these different ways. Some would suggest spiritually. And so, we’ve seen that. I mean, it’s why right before this call I did yoga and I go to a yoga class three, four days a week. It’s why I run trails in the woods three, four days a week. My experience has been and part of my own doing, my own problem is because I’ve been practicing mindfulness meditation for a few years. I don’t know if it’s a problem, but I’ve become so sensitive to what Julianna Raye would call my ability to discriminate very subtle internal experiences like I can feel emotions or distractions or internal voices or images coming on a lot sooner than I used to be able to. And one of the things that that sensitivity has caused me to become aware of is that when I have a regular practice of moving, it’s swimming, trail running, yoga or something else, I am so aware that my ability to think, my ability to speak, my ability to work with my emotions, my ability to make decisions, my abilities with my family, basically every area of my life, I can literally see how I am changed when I am moving more often than not. That’s my experience and you’re sharing. That’s what you’re bringing to people. Then that’s got to lead us to you said it. Tell us about the book that��s coming out. What’s the title of the book and what’s the essence of the book? Not because we’re not going to read it but because we want to be taught right now and then forced to go read it, so we can get it more deeply.

 

Andrea: Well, thank you. Well, first and foremost, you can’t go to the Best Year Ever and really not think about writing a book. Hal’s an author, you wrote a book, and you told them to write a book and that’s the space that really you’re in. So, I remember this idea coming about that, “Well yeah, of course,” and I’ve always loved to write, always. In college, it was like, “No, no, don’t give me a test. Let me write,” because if I write like I’ll go to town. So, my book which is right here is called Gypsy Living and it says how to unleash your gypsy spirit, learn how to live your most daring adventure each and every day for the rest of your life. So, gypsy is actually an acronym. It’s not just like, “Oh, we’re going to become all gypsies now,” but it’s an acronym and G is for gratitude, Y is for yes, P is for positive purpose, S is for self-love and Y is for young at heart. And really…

 

Jon: Repeat that one more time quickly. Repeat that again.

 

Andrea: G is for gratitude. Y is for yes. P is for positive purpose. S is for self-love. And Y is for young at heart.

 

Jon: Awesome. All right. Keep going.

 

Andrea: So, it really talks about these characteristics of a gypsy. If I believe that we all are born with this just inherent will to express, to create, to be who we are, say what we want and really there are no repercussions of that that we are all born great and you have everything that you need inside of you because you’re born with it. And we have this image in life that like we’re broken or we haven’t done the right schooling or that we didn’t get the right certificate or that we had a bad childhood or that a person over there get something that I didn’t, and it all comes from a place of whack and really unworthiness that I can’t have what I want in my life because I’m just not good enough. And really at the root of every problem, I promise, you get to that. Like, at the very roots of the problem, not the branches, not even the trunk but like the root of any problem in our life I firmly believe that that it comes from a space of, yeah, no. I can’t want that. I couldn’t possibly have that success in my life or that relationship in my life.

 

So, my belief is that we’re meant to live our most daring adventure because to me life is the most daring adventure like life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Helen Keller tells us that and I believe that, and I believe that either we are on that road and we are traveling that road and we’re in the work of that space or we’ve made a very specific decision based on how we’ve interpreted our life events and experiences in a negative way and we just choose to take the other road and that’s the coping road, that’s the hiding road, that’s the road that I’m not good enough, and it’s the safe road. It’s the choosing the career. It’s you staying at Vitamix when you are done with it. It’s me staying with Zumba Fitness when I was done with it. It’s a completely different way to live your life because instead of saying, “I’m going to let logic rule my life,” it’s saying, “Allow your spirit, your soul, your gypsy spirit, your intuition to rule your mind and your mind to rule your body,” so it’s this expression from the inside out and it’s good stuff.

 

Jon: So, well, when you mentioned life is a daring adventure, what would be an example for you or maybe a story of one of your more daring adventures that you’ve taken either professionally or personally?

 

Andrea: Yeah. So, Gypsy Fam which is Gypsy Fam Production, that’s my podcast, that idea was created with me saying, “If everything else in my life fell away, if I wasn’t about anything, if I wouldn’t have done mortgages for years and if I wouldn’t have done so much in fitness like really at the end of the day what am I about?” And what I came up with was that like this gypsy wanderlust, this person that I am is such a part of me and such a part of what I believe about myself and about my life and my family, and my family’s not just my immediate family although I have three beautiful children and amazing husband but really, I love people hard and it’s easy for me to be inclusive with people. It’s been like something I’ve done since I was a little girl.

 

And so, when we did that, I had just in a level 1 Baptiste Yoga training and our life just changed. We went to Puerto Rico. We lived there for six months and that’s where I wrote my book. My husband one day was like, “Andrea, you’ve got to write a book about all this stuff like you’re doing all these long face wreck poses like that’s a whole chapter right there. Just write the thing. Do the thing and you’ll have the power.” So, we did. So, we moved, and it was an amazing, incredible six months of our lives and we left, pulled the kids out of school.

 

Jon: What ages are your kids? So, you said, “This is what we’re going to do.” You moved to Puerto Rico. What ages are your kids?

 

Andrea: So, Lucy’s now 14 and my twins, Evan and Ava, are 11. At the time they were 13 and 10 and 10. And we had gone to Puerto Rico for a month before that. I mean you have to remember, by the time I graduate from high school I had been to 17 countries so it’s not like I grew up doing nothing. I was seeing so much from a very young age and I really think that that shaped my world perspective and how like really when people say they have problems I’m like, “Dude, I know. You ought to go to Thailand and see like the open sewers there.” You know I mean? Just like the perspective of life has taken me a while to understand why my perspective of life is so different than a lot of other people’s and I don’t judge that. It just is a space of curiosity for me and I really believe that it’s because I was shown so much as a little girl and I didn’t just see it. I like took it in and I want to understand it. And I wanted to give it meaning and it continued to the develop into a more beautiful meaning instead of anything negative. It’s just like a deeper meaning of life. So, that was pretty adventurous and fun, and I would do it all over again.

 

Jon: What’s the greatest gift that that journey of moving to Puerto Rico gave to you and/or your family? I’m sure there were many but what was maybe one great gift that you’ll most take away from that experience?

 

Andrea: So, for me, it’s really easy to do stuff like that. For me it’s much more difficult to do what I’m doing right now which is being back in Southern Utah for six months, building a house, seeing it being built and like staying. I would like to go. I would pack up everything tomorrow and travel the world or even the state for a year and then go and we have plans to do that and also that’s a space that is, that’s my work. My work is going to be different than your work and our work for my family and going into that space was a gift to my children really and to our family by saying that anything we want to do we actually can, that there are really no limits. You don’t actually have to do anything that the world tells you, you have to do. You get to choose. You get to make that choice.

 

And the lessons that I’ve seen my children take away are nothing that I could ever teach them in the walls of my home because considered that like life is out there, so I can’t teach them everything at home. I need to put them in places where they’re challenged, and not over-the-top challenged, but challenged enough to where there’s like this unbalance. Yeah. There’s like this indo board and balancing. You’re trying to like understand, “Wait. But this is life, and this is where I’m from and this is what I thought about life.” And considered that like anytime you think you know everything about life, contradict it. Find the opposite because there are contradictions everywhere and that’s the fun of life. So, those have been a few of the major takeaways for our family and for me and for my kids and seeing my kids go through that.

 

Jon: I love those lessons about perspective. Before we get to the end here, Andrea, tell us a little bit about you have a course that you’re launching next year. Tell us about that.

 

Andrea: Yeah. So, my program I have a program that is a guide. It’s a trifecta guide program. Trifecta, so help for me looks like a triangle and it’s the body, the mind, and the spirit. And I believe that when really like I said before when you’re in that alignment and this is what my book is about that really, we can live our most daring adventure. And so, what is one book like you can take The Miracle Morning or Gypsy Spirit or Gypsy Living and you can take that book and it’s not just the book itself. It’s the daily actions that you’re doing in order to really harness those characteristics, harness those skills and my program that’s what it’s about. It’s about me interfacing with you. You interfacing with me on a daily basis via your phone and feeling like Andrea is right there with you every single step of the way because if something as simple as like get six to eight hours of sleep every night, okay, well you read that one and maybe it was fine but like what’s helping you on a daily basis to actually do the thing? What’s making you or inspiring you or motivating you to stay the course of what you really truly want to do?

 

So, really, it’s a commitment space for people to say, “Yeah. I am committed to living my most daring adventure.” And that most daring adventure may be different from this nine-week course from the beginning to the end. And it really harnesses the skill that is in my book by going through the body, laying the foundation of like what the real truth because we live in the space in this day and age where there’s a lot of confusion. So, it’s really like I’m not going to give you any of like, “You have to do this.” What I’m about is education and I’m going to give you that education. I’m going to allow you that access to me and my experience and mind truth and then I want you to challenge all of them and I want you to dig into your toolbox, into your attics and cobwebs and the space in your heart and your mind and your spirit and your body and really work through that and do the work, get the education, do the work so that you can live your most daring adventure. So, you really, really harness the characteristics and the tools and the ability to on a daily basis moment-by-moment become completely honest with yourself and by doing that and really living in that space of pure honesty of what you truly want and how you really feel, light happens, and it grows beautifully, and I’ve seen it happen in my own life. So, yeah, that’s a little bit about it.

 

Jon: Well, I cannot wait to hear about the transformation that people are going to get to experience when they work with you. In fact, I know Hal he’s going to go through your course and if anybody who does, this conversation is a great reflection, Andrea, of you and what you’re about and anyone who’s been at our live events has already benefited indirectly and directly from what you’re doing. So, anyone who gets to work directly with you, that’s going to be a very fortunate opportunity so congrats on everything you’ve got coming out. Where can people find you? Where do they meet you? Where do they catch up with you? How can they get a hold of you?

 

Andrea: They can buy my book at Amazon. It’s called Gypsy Living and if you put in Gypsy Living and Andrea Riggs, it will come up and you can also go to my website which has a direct link to purchase my book and also join my program if you go to GypsyFam.com and then click on Guide Program. The details are all right there and the one beginning on January 1 is the date that we’ll start. So, yeah, if you want to be a part of that then definitely go and sign up pretty quick because that’s going to be a really neat experience to be able to participate in and, yeah, it will change your life. It’s already changed mine.

 

Jon: Andrea, it’s been an awesome journey thus far and I’m super excited about everything that’s going to happen next. And who knows what that could be?

 

Andrea: Thanks.

 

Jon: It’s awesome. Mike Merriam says hi. Shout out to Mike Merriam.

 

Andrea: Hi, Mike Merriam. Oh, he’s so great.

 

Jon: Yeah. Awesore of – I said Awesore. He’s the author of…

 

Andrea: That’s awesome and author together.

 

Jon: “Closer Than You Think.” It’s about accelerating your own personal revolution. Highly recommended. Hey, thank you, Andrea.

 

Andrea: You’re welcome. Thank you.

[END]