46: Justin S Grant: Finding Synergies Between Business and Spirituality – Even for Busy People!

0:00 Spirituality and hustle culture coexist. If the eyes are the window to the soul, what is the path to the soul? Did Doom scrolling and fomo exist? Back in the days of cavemen and dinosaurs and who is the father of modern psychology Freud or the Buddha stay tuned as we touch on these and many other topics on this week's episode of untether your life. Welcome to untether your life, show that empowers you to own your own health and break free of templates for managing physical and mental wellness. And looks at Key issues. Impacting the South Asian diaspora each week.

0:41 We speak with experts and meditation and mindfulness folks who have struggled with mental illness, clinicians with insights on the South Asian experience and many other incredible guests. I am your host in a kilt or Scar and I'm passionate about the power of conversation. Over Sation to catalyze change this week, we speak with Justin asked, Grant and entrepreneur singer, author, mentor and founder of an it consultancy based in Los Angeles. California. His best-selling book business and spirituality offers a pragmatic path for truth. Seekers in the global era. An Abridged version is available under the title of spirituality, for busy people. He now offers Dynamic mentoring programs for health wellness, and realizing spiritual purpose. And with that, let's get on Heathered. Thanks so much Justin for joining. Yeah, thanks for having me here.

1:30 Thank you. Looking forward to talking so thank you for that introduction. Well, I'm from Santa Barbara. California has he mentioned any and California? And maybe much of the West Coast of the US is the farthest west. Basically the US and also that puts us near the East and a sense. So in Santa Barbara for those reasons and perhaps there's a good blending of Eastern and Western philosophy and spirituality. So I grew up in a home. That was very open-minded about different wisdom, traditions of the world and didn't push anything particularly hard on me. But allowed me to explore all those things on my own and when I became college-aged in went to UC Santa Barbara is when my passion for studying these wisdom, Traditions really caught fire and I was involved at UC Santa Barbara and studying comparative religions both Formerly at school as well as just in my free time and also was in The Gospel Choir, which was a wonderful experience. And, you know, in addition to praising the Lord and song, I also learned how to sing and clap at the same time, which is a skill.

2:39 I was not born with and also join, what was called the bhakti yoga and bhakti means love or devotion in the Hindu tradition. So it also is praising. The Lord just in a different language and also in a different tradition but oh, beautiful on you. Physical and all life changing for me in many ways. And then after college, and in my young adulthood, I just continued to study both music and spirituality. Then in my late 30s, decided to formalize, my trainings and understandings and to get a Masters Degree in transformational Psychology and psyche means Soul originally and ology means the study of.

3:21 So psychology is the study of the soul and transformational ecology implies it's about studying the soul in a way that is geared towards personal transformation tour, deep healing, and turning our traumas that we all have in life into something positive and turning our Darkness into beautiful burning light and then being empowered to go out and help our needy world with in the west Sigmund Freud, goes hand-in-hand with psychology is one of the most famous psychological geniuses Would talk of spirituality sometimes but still was something of an atheist. So anyway, he reinterpreted the term psyche, the Greek term psyche for soul, he called psyche mind. So that's a bit more of a scientific way of describing the soul a bit more modern.

4:12 And then in my studies I've come to believe and understand psyche. And soul psyche, soul and mind is all really synonymous terms, right? And what else is interesting that Ben's back around to, the transformational aspect of the psychology that I've studied in practice is Freud. He designed the therapist scene and chair with the patient line on the back of the couch. Because originally, he was sitting in a chair opposite, the client sitting in chair and he said he just got tired having to look at people all day long. So that's why you told me to lie down on the couch. Interesting. Yeah, that's fun. Anyways, man, it sounds like yeah. Yeah, exactly. And the other thing is he humorously said and so Terrifyingly said that therapy ends when either the therapist or the patient dies so pretty Grim.

5:04 Right? Right. So I mean he was just kind of admitting that the system that he popularized practices whole life like talking about her problems was leading people to what he called normal Neurosis. So just like ignore manageable like within an acceptable level then. Yeah, right. Right. And what's interesting is I talked about how Freud is identified as the Other of psychology here in the west, but all great. Spiritual teachers were incredible psychologists. And the one that we call the Buddha who lived 2,500 years ago, many would consider him to be the ultimate in the original psychologist. You know. Hmm. Interesting food has been called a doctor of Souls and also Buddhism really likes to use the term mind more than Soul. So there's a lot of synergy and what's incredible about Buddha's teaching is that he's trying to lead people on to Enlightenment and Nirvana you know, Nirvana beaned synonymous with heaven and side, you know, not heaven when you die but living Heaven inside.

6:04 So the point is Buddha's psychology, came thousands of years before Freud's and rather than this goal of normal Neurosis which again is that they G Buddhism preached finding nirvana in the slide through transformational psychology? Yeah. And then the quote is all desire leads to suffering, right? So it's all about, Seeing that hedonistic emphasis on material Pursuits. One of the things that in my experience plays into this is technology and that's what I found. Very interesting about your background because you know, you would talked about very early on in your career you started a technology consultancy firm, then that's what I found. Very interesting was just that something that's very scientific and very binary and cut-and-dry versus something like spirituality which is very fluid and very, you know, it's the whole masculine and feminine. Energy.

6:55 And in my experience, I feel like technology. The intention was to make our lives easier and increase channels for collaboration where as you know we are more inundated with negativity, you were Doom, scrolling were full mowing where all the key ingredients of anxiety and depression. So I wanted to get your take a little bit more, you know, because you've obviously had feet in both world. So to speak about your thoughts about technology and Impact on mental well-being. In today's society, spirituality and the soul is going hand-in-hand, but really every branch of constructive human endeavor is an expression of spirituality of Soul light as it were. And again, we witness this in nature in the seven colors of the rainbow.

7:46 So, in addition to the expression of religion and spiritual activity, you know, also education is an expression science, which would include technology. She is an expression communication politics are all expressions of divinity. So technology was really into computers were my first love in life, you know, some my passion and what enthralled me and yeah they're very much just as much can be an expression of spirituality as something like religion and devotion as well. So there's nothing non-spiritual about scientific activity, including technology and business, of course. The title of my book is business and spirituality and emergencies, and you're also talking about, you know, how to technology, and spirituality merge. Because again, any constructive human activity can be considered a spiritual activity and yeah, I do think the technology can and does enrich our lives, and so many ways. But also those animal instincts that we talked about earlier, which really are associated with survival, with fear and greed, or perhaps, fear and desire And those are all in folded into our technology Expressions as well.

8:59 And so yeah. Like you said, umm, scrolling and fomo, that's natural and it before we were scrolling on our phones. We were driving by car accidents, on the freeway, and everybody stops and turns. And yeah, the psychological reason for that is sound and that again at our core. We are animals in the jungle, trying to survive and it's a better safe than sorry situation. We would rather mistake that stick on the ground. Or a snake and avoid the stick or snake than, you know, just assume it's a stick and then step on a snake and get bit, right? And so when we drive by the car accident, or we're doomed scrolling online. The psychological reason for that, is that our subconscious mind or ripped Hylian root of our brain, is trying to figure out how we could have avoided that deadly situation. That's why we're so addicted to these Dooms scenario. We're trying to subconsciously wonder how the animal and US wants to know how we could have avoided. Added a deadly situation for ourselves. Yep.

9:58 And then the problem is when that anxiety provoking situation is past but that feel of dread you know the cortisol the sympathetic nervous system is still activated, the fight or flight. And so that's what we talked about in our platform and our book and our movie is just about taking control and owning your health and not just accepting this as fait, accompli? Right. As just thinking that. Well, you know, I'm constantly anxious. I must have this diagnosis and therefore I need to pop this many pills because my doctor said. So because what I always say is that you can sometimes be like a game of whack-a-mole where it's like I take one medication and then another disorder pops up.

10:40 And then I have to you know it's just basically like trying to suppress it. The analogy is almost like when you're a kid at the pool and you push oh bouncing ball down in the pool. What do you think happens? Right? And you talk about this in your book as well. Our Mantra, if you will is Own your health because that's really the way you're going to get the best outcome. Because the human system is so complex. What is the concept of owning your health mean to you and your experience all? Well, it's your Mantra. I want to hear what you have to say about it. There's a book on it coming out. Okay. Wonderful. But in a nutshell mean, that's what I was saying is just that there are ways to manage your own well-being and, you know, you can just go on script you can go on autopilot and pop pills. And there's Other extremes where you're exercising too much, or maybe you're hyper Vigilant about the calories. You are consuming, you know, you have to find a middle ground. And so, in my mind, I mean, I think meditation is super important.

11:39 So those are along the lines of I was looking understanding your experience, like, what is work for you and maybe the clients you work with in terms of taking back that control and owning your health. So yeah, like I started out saying, first of all, I want to acknowledge that life is hard, you know? So So it's not a matter of wanting to be judgmental on people. It's a matter of wanting to try to share practical spiritual wisdom, that can help them gradually transform away from a place of unhealthy and unhappiness into a place of radiant health. And Nirvana, you know, being the ultimate goal Heaven on the inside here and now and yeah. So on the topic of Health, I like to start at the bottom on the physical animal expression of our nature and Americans are in terrible Health physically and that's all intertwined with, you know, being in bad Health, emotionally, mentally.

12:33 And I empathize and understand that in a lot of places in the u.s. there are so called food, deserts where people, you know, basically can only walk to the Kwik-E-Mart and fast food. And so, right, kale smoothies are not exactly on order, not as easy to come by, as we like you, right? And that's tragic. But still, if you're eating A junk food all the time, you're going to have junk Health but for those of us who have the privilege to go to a supermarket and select, you know, basically all processed foods are junk foods. And basically, they're all full of refined sugar, which is, it's a drug, you know, it's a drug and it's a drug that all of us are given on our first birthday with the cake. Your one-year-old, it's sent here. Celebrate with some drugs.

13:20 You know, it's literally what happens. So, yeah, processed foods are full of refined sugars % drug sugar is really what makes us fat refined sugar. No sugar without fiber, like improves and getting away from processed foods and the refined sugar that are permeate. Those Foods is step one, so admittedly that's hard especially if you live in a food desert. And then number two, again, for those of us who have the privilege to select our diet adopting, a primarily plant-based diet is the way to get in touch with radiant health. With and you know in modern times we have the luxury of eating more interesting Foods than fruits and seeds, but still, it's right there.

14:03 In all these teachings, that we really need to get back to basics and eating a natural plant based diet if we want true health. And so the heavy animal based products diet plus all the refined sugars, it's just created this epidemic of on health which is, you know, as the West exports, its junk food. It's becoming a pandemic of an elder, right? And throughout the pandemic, you know, there is many people wondering why covid-19 was, you know, shutting down the world. When meanwhile junk food has been wreaking havoc on people's health for decades. And there's even articles that I cited in my books that talk about actually poor diet, kills more humans every year than the next ten. Things combined, you know, tobacco alcohol, War, terrorism car accidents.

14:53 You know, like it's a poor diet that skill. Being most human beings and why that's not, you know, a global emergency in the way that covid-19 became a global emergency is super ironic and Grim in a lot of ways because it really is. It's killing people early but also it's just dramatically reducing people's quality of life you know for their whole life. So it's a pandemic really of on health. Yeah and then you combine marketing with that it's an almost one winnable war and I don't know if you followed with the founder of mine Valley Vision like Yanni he had actually Done some videos about this where he's questioning the positioning of products by Nestle, where they're pure sugar, but they're positioning them as, you know, they have like a child Athlete on the cover.

15:37 And, of course, when a kids walking through the grocery store, it's that, you know, Primal Association of play and fun and activity with something that is going to prevent them from being able to do that, right? I mean, these corporations spend billions of dollars hiring phds and know. Neuroscientist to try to position. It's not just food but it's also, you know, these social media services and it can be pretty Insidious, I think. And that's why refined sugar is a drug period, you know? So the u.s. tobacco companies aren't allowed to advertise to teenagers and children. But since day one, they are advertising and refined sugar to people to young people and children.

16:18 So, even though it is a drug, yeah, in many ways, it is a pandemic of global proportions. And, you know, hopefully, Lee, we can through information through discussions and programs. We can try to curtail its spread and that kind of segues into my next question, which is about spirituality for busy people. When we first met and you told me the title, it intrigued me because spirituality it tends to be something that you think of that takes, you know, years. Then you people go on vipassana Retreat and they're not able to talk for 10 days. And then, you know, you think about that hustle culture, where you pop your burrito in the microwave and you want to get on with your day. A and get your kids to soccer practice etcetera. So I love the convergence of those two different modes of Consciousness and reality, tell me a little bit more about spirituality for busy people, like the program.

17:06 Specifically, yeah, thanks for asking the kill. So again, just backing up a little bit. My journey has to gone from being a lifelong student of compared to religion and unitive spirituality, Interfaith spirituality and being open to wisdom Traditions from any direction, any source, and then to, right? A book called business and spirituality. There's a dual meaning to the title business and spirituality on the one hand, businesses represent corporations, which in my opinion, are the dominant, most powerful entities on the planet right now, whereas traditionally the dominant identities were nation-states the government's and organized religions, right? It used to be these Twin Towers of religions and states. And now we have this new third column of Of Corporations and businesses who have quickly risen to being more powerful than all the rest.

18:01 So it's really vital for our own self survival as a species that we culture these businesses, these organizations so that they don't you know, with using their organized versions of animal instincts. You know just push us into Oblivion and species anihilation so business and spirituality. The title does refer to these corporations. These businesses that So business means busyness, right? State of being busy, basically right? Yeah. And all of us basically have is Enos in our lives, whether we're a student or a homemaker, or work at a non-profit or you know, or can it an actual business. So yeah, they're still may need to business and spirituality the title and that it affects us as individuals as well as us corporately, in whatever sort of groups that we are part of. And that more comprehensive book was a bridge. Aged into spirituality for busy people, which again, you know, busy and business or synonyms in a sense and yeah, The Abridged spirituality for busy.

19:03 People has now been put into an online course form where we have 15 to 20 minute videos that go through the micro chapters of the book and then we have all sorts of supplemental materials for worksheets homework and visualization meditation videos and also invocation activities in Location being like musical prayer and chanting which like all things can be made spiritual but not necessarily religious. So the spirituality for busy people, online course, has this whole comprehensive set of teachings + group community support, you know, in social media, as well as one-to-one. Mentoring, the phone calls, and some calls, and things like that.

19:47 Yeah. So it's been really marvelously effective that we can bring these teachings to Life as a youth in school. I I often pondered on how interesting it was that we get these textbooks that gave us all the information we needed. Then we had a teacher like why do we need the teacher? If everything's in the book, right, right. And one of the answers is that teachers are there to answer any questions. We have anything in the books that confuses us and, you know, so it is with our course but the other is I came to believe that the teachers just bring the books to life, you know, they bring the teachings to life in ways that makes it less dry, more interesting and more inspirational. And so, Likewise with the course, version of the book spirituality for busy people, we bring it to life and we can help inspire people and keep them accountable and give them structure around actually creating great changes in their life. Because the company that we work with has said, look in this day and age information is basically unlimited and free. So we don't sell information, we offer our clients transformation and that's the beauty of taking something in the book, where Really it's all there and adapting it to an online course with the community and live teacher, / mentors / coaches and that we can really help people get transformation rather than the just read a book and maybe pick up some things and get inspired.

21:10 But yeah with the online course version. There's just a lot more intensity and that leads to transformation which is comprehensive, you know, as I say from head to toe or for body to Soul, you know, it's physical transformation. Emotional healing. Mental clarification, and then reception of spiritual purpose. You know, all that transpires for people who go through our course or program. Yeah, I mean as, you know, like, the whole purpose of the Shelly story is it's talking about our journey with mental health. You know, specifically I had suffered from bipolar disorder for more than two decades undiagnosed, finally got the diagnosis. And as much as I would like to say, you know, it snap my fingers and skies parted and all is well, it's a journey, it's a process. But you know, that's why I'm always very interested in looking outside of the norm and outside of just hop a Prozac or Papa Wellbutrin and case closed.

22:04 Right. I'm always very intrigued by programs that look at The Human Condition and look at ways that you can affect change with minimal side effects. And that's why I saw that your programs cater to anxiety, depression, addiction, just curious. Could you tell me a little bit more about maybe some success stories? Some people that have really had some good results as a result spirituality for busy people. So it's a comprehensive program again from body to soul is what we effect. But people have different urgent burning needs that attract them to what we offer in the healing and transformation that we can guide them through in ways that are safe, natural effective and drug-free.

22:48 And definitely, what we find is, most people are attracted to the program for overcoming anxiety and depression, right? Right? And as we've talked about, I mean, people have a lot of financial stress and people are in poor physical health, in many ways from no fault of their own, really. And yeah, being in poor physical health. Absolutely is all intertwined with emotional and mental health and you know, leads to anxiety and depression. So people come to us seeking transformation and overcoming anxiety and depression. Especially that's our most popular program. And we guide them over programs that are eight. Clong in two ways to get a handle on their physical health, through being more mindful of the fact that all processed foods are full of the drug called refined sugar and gradually adopting, more of a plant-based diet.

23:39 And then the other, what we call the secret weapon is something that I call transformational cyclic fasting and transformational talked about what that means. Cyclic means doing things in cycles and regularly and then that fasting is another basically almost lost virtue in our Western culture of Plenty, right? We have so much food at our fingertips, all the time. And it doesn't really occur to people to take a break from eating. But when we do, when we fast, the results are nothing, less than miraculous, you know, fasting is a miracle. And the reason fasting so powerful is that digestion, is a We've a lot of work and we don't think about it because it happens, subconsciously.

24:28 But if you eat a big New York steak or something, that's like telling your digestive system like, oh, go climb Mount Everest right now, you know? It's just right. It's a huge project. You just gave your your digestive equipment. And there's been, you know, many clients who have come to us with anxiety and depression. And we take them through the program where they get a handle on their physical health. They start fasting cyclically regularly and They start doing the other activities which are spiritual but not necessarily religious. Yeah, I mean, just within the span of eight weeks, people, give incredible physical emotional and mental healing, which lifts their anxiety, and depression in ways that they haven't known for years, or maybe forever.

25:13 Because, you know, a lot of people coming to us and we explore the roots of their situation and some people were, you know, seeing the police show up at their house when there are five, you know, because Domestic disturbance and there's alcoholism. And the trauma goes just really deep and you know really early trauma Kim goes back to the womb when you know somebody was getting drunk you know and there's a lot of anxiety so yeah people really are seeking deep healing and tips. Go through our program, get it and they have transformation and not only is it incredible to see the transformation that occurs just in the span of the eight-week program. But unlike the It Western system up here. I want you to take these pills for the rest of your breaths. We Empower people with the psychological tools that not only get them tremendous results in a short time period but also become part of their being so that they can draw upon these safe natural and highly effective tools for the rest of the time, they can build upon it. They can go deeper draw in these tools forever and for free, you know, because it's part of who they are. Rather than something external, like take this pill or Surgery. Yeah, I mean that's a lines.

26:27 Also with we have a stem cell therapy business too, and it's all about harnessing the body's own healing capabilities rather than bringing in something for and that's going to maybe mask symptoms, but also potentially introduced, a whole host of other problems. So I think really is just that ownership and really going within mentally, physically, spiritually, which is so important. And I think that's why what you're doing is so important. What is on the horizon? For Justin Grant. What's the next chapter look like for you? Yeah, so the book spirituality for busy people has been adapted into the online course with the same name and everything we do is available at our website spirituality for busy people.com, and then also on socials were at spirituality for busy people. So really, it's really just growing these programs. You know, it's taken me years and decades to gather this wisdom which didn't come for me.

27:23 It came from spiritual genius. Of the past that we all have the incredible luxury of standing on their shoulders as we say and then we even folded it into something that's practical and accessible and spiritual but not necessarily religious to be attractive to people of all sorts of different beliefs systems. And yeah so it's been a tremendous effort to get all this together. Really, what's next is just to grow the program and to bring more people through so that they can get individual healing. NG which naturally will percolate out into society in way of societal healing and making the world, a slightly better place you know one individual at a time.

28:04 Great. And we've all heard the pithy phrase. The eyes are the windows to the soul, and a less known. But just, as powerful phrase, is that the breath is the path to the soul. So, one of the meditations that we guide people to and is available free for people who just sign up to learn more about our program is breathing meditation. Where it's as simple as getting still and concentrating on the sensations of the breath incoming and outgoing through the notes. Because again, the breath is the pathway to the soul. So if we have anxiety and depression, one of the quick fixes which is safe, natural and effective, is to just meditate on the breath coming in and out of your nose. You know, if you can do it for 30 seconds, that's better than nothing.

28:51 You can do it for three minutes that's much better than nothing. And really You can get your human self, your animal self, as it were more in touch with your soul self, your higher self. And we do that to find peace and joy and spiritual purpose just throughout our day. So that's one of the basic techniques that we offer people spirituality for busy people. Clients is to do the simple breathing meditation and pardus the fact that the breath is the path to the soul. Excellent. Okay. Well Justin, it was so nice speaking with you. You so much. Insight and wisdom and just your approach. I think will resonate with a lot of people who are looking for a little bit of Shanti and quiet in their life, in this hyper notified world that we live in.

29:36 So we really want to thank you for coming by. It's been a pleasure talking to you. It has thank you for having me nikhil and I hope people clean some benefit and yeah check us out at spirituality for busy people to get more information and get started for free. And anybody who's listening you can follow us on the Shelly story on Instagram. I'm Twitter and other social platforms. And then, our blog and videos, and other resources are at shelise ew.com. So, thank you so much for listening. I'm Twitter and other social platforms. And then, our blog and videos, and other resources are at shelise ew.com. So, thank you so much for listening.