Josh Piterman on Performance, Identity & Taking Off the Mask

call, which is your weekly dose of purpose, packed with sciencebacked tools to beat burnout and boost happiness, hosted by us, Tess Brower, and seventime world champion Lane Beley. We're the founders of Awake Academy. This podcast mixes raw life lessons, expert wisdom, and practical tips to help you stop sleepwalking through life and start living it on your terms. You ready to wake up and thrive? Let's go. Before we begin, we have a quick favor to ask. If this podcast has been landing for you, please hit subscribe and leave us a rating or review. It helps us grow the show and keep bringing these conversations to more people. Hoorah. Hurrah. Um Josh, we start every podcast just with a bit of a grounding and an intention. Um my absolute love and intention today is you and I have spoken a few times and I've got to really feel the man behind the mask in such a beautiful way and without actually physically touching it. Yeah. Um and I can't wait for the day that I do get to give you a hug of just a meeting of the minds and souls. I actually did in the first call we had prep call, I pulled the cards. Oh yeah, as in the show cards. Yeah. Yeah. We did a whole reading and it was really really special. So I just want the world to see that part of you cuz you you do really do have a beautiful soul. What's yours LB? Uh to slipstream that. That's so good. Josh, what's yours? Uh it's always in these environments just to stay really open. Um even though like it can be this sort of situation where um I'm the one getting interviewed inverted commas um just to be curious and open and um and allow whatever allow the dowo of things to unfold the flow. Let it let it have its own way. Well, I can absolutely promise you that because the way we like to run things is I keep lane a little bit blind. Um because you are your best when you're off the cuff, not so prepped, but prepped. But one of the things I've got for you, LB, is an intro to Josh. Oh. Now, you've never seen heard Josh perform, right? No, I have not. Okay. That that could have fallen over. I'm going to play to you one of the biggest moments in his life. Mhm. Now, ready? Okay. Heat. Heat. Incredible. Really? What was that? Subtle. as a sledgehammer. Josh, perhaps you could explain to LB that moment for you. Where were you and how did that change your life? And then we'll introduce you. Yeah.

Australian music because it's Australia Day, but every year they like to finish it with something that pays homage to the thing that we're all looking at which is the opera house. So they invited me to sing um Ness and Dorma. Um and it was a really turn big turning point in my career for for multiple reasons. One because other than doing a national anthem at the State of Origin once, I'd never actually sat on live television. Um, so to to throw that out there, um, to do Ness and Dorma, which is not like you're not whipping out Bara Black Sheep, are you? Like it's like really like you're really doing it. And, um, the whole lead up to it, I was, you know, lots of times when I was really \[ \_\_ \] myself um about doing that and and fears and self-limiting beliefs that came up. And I mean there were times when I was I write about in my book that I was like absolutely like physically ill in anticipation for it and had to go a lot inwards on it. Um but the footage why it sort of changed my life is the footage of that um found its way very quickly um through the wonders of social media to um to Andrew Lloyd Weber um in London who you know has written a million musicals but namely things like Phantom of the Opera and Cameron Macintosh who is um probably the most acclaimed um or well-renowned producer of musical theater in the world and within two weeks I was over auditioning for Phantom of the Opera And by midway through that year pretty much I was I was playing um the role of the Phantom on the West End. So it it really is a defining moment that that changed my life. I know. It's incredible, isn't it? And and you look at these moments knowing that it's took your whole life to get to that moment and you have to release it and see where it goes. So and there's a lot to unpack.

actually costs. panic attacks in the winds, vocal injuries, a divorce in the middle of a career, and the slow, quiet realization that the mask you've been performing on and behind was starting to suffocate you. Something you and I have resonated with so much. Josh is the first Australian to play both Jean in Les Misra and the Phantom in the original West End production, The Phantom of the Opera. Your career spans almost 20 years, which is pretty incredible. a 10 tenner and even performed in the Majesty's Theater in London. So you've performed on some of the biggest stages in the world. Really? Did you meet the play? Uh I have. Yeah. Um well in passing yes had something of Buckham Palace once. Um but um more recently than that um sat on a table and sung for King Charles um and and just chewed the fat over the dinner. Um and I love that. Oh, so Tommy, how do you go with all the pressures of, you know, performing eight times a week? I'm like, how do I go with the pressures? I literally said like with this face, how do I go with the pressures? Like your entire life, you're born into pressure. Oh yes, you can only control what you can control. Yeah. Well, that's wise advice because I think it's easier to be born into it, right, than it is to be projected or or found yourself in it without the tools. And that is what I think is so extraordinary about your journey, Josh, is you have learned so many tools along the way that have helped you write and publish your own book, Behind the Mask, which is a brilliant book. I loved it. You're a meditation teacher. You do your own coaching. And you also have a podcast behind the mask. So now you work with the elite performers, which we love, executives on self-awareness, nervous system regulation. And what I think is the most compelling bit is that you have redesigned your life with these tools. And that is showing so much in how you present yourself every day. I'm sure it's more freeing for you, but the beauty of it is you get to help people who find themselves in the pressure pit. And that's what our listener is. They're in the pressure pit of life and not knowing where to go, not knowing how to perform. And this is a high performance series. So, welcome to our podcast, Josh. Thank you so much, T. Thanks for having me. It's great to see your face here. So, today we're talking about the gap between the version of ourselves that performs and the truth of actually what we're carrying. So, well, we're Lane Beley, Tess Brower. We're awake academy. This is a wakeup call. Uh it's a place where we share real conversations, lived experiences, and science back tools to help you be your best selves and live your best lives. So, welcome back, Dream Team. We like to start every podcast interview with our guests by asking them the same question around a wakeup call, what it taught you or how it impacted you and what you've learned from it. So, over to you, Josh. What's been your greatest wakeup call? Yeah, I mean there's been many along the way. I talk about it in in in my book and it's a it's a universal idea and

it's whether or not your you know the ears in your heart uh or your soul are open to hearing that. And it provides you three options. I say that firstly it'll give you a feather will give you a little a little tickle a brush across the face and say oi slow down. And generally as a high performer there's some part of your ego that thinks that you can not listen to the power of something infinitely greater than you and you push through that and you get a brick. Sometimes you stop at the brick. I didn't stop at the brick and I got the third lesson which is the train right and this is basically the thing that flaws you and Tess alluded to it earlier with vocal injury. Okay, I was playing the Phantom as I'd said 2019 into 2020. We all know what happened in March of 2020. Co hit. Um, and it took a few months to realize I was probably out of a job. Um, then contracts were severed. Um, I was still in London. Decided to come back to Australia after not working for about 9 months. There was a couple of little gigs and the producers reached out and said, "Hey, we're not going to offer you the role when it opens, reopens on the West End, but what we'd like you to do is play the role in Australia on a production that opens in Sydney Opera House mid July. So, um, you're not going to get to finish off the West End dream, even though I've had 6 months playing the role there, but you do get to have an Opera House dream." And I thought, "Oh, that's pretty wonderful. Um, I'll I'll I'll do that. I'll stay around." And there was lots of financial um sort of stuff that was going on there and I'd used so much of my savings just to get by. Wasn't able to get, you know, the Australian um JobKeeper thing and wasn't able to get the English one because I hadn't lived there long enough to be a tax resident. Um, so I just said sort of yes to to um the gigs that were coming up for me and it's good to stay in Australia and but if I did feel a lot of stress and pressure and so um moved up to Sydney um from Melbourne having just moved back to Melbourne from London everything like moved the whole apartment back to to Australia and did the role um was was about to start rehearsals for the role at the opera house and then Sydney went into a lockdown. they cancelled the production. So that was really \[ \_\_ \] Fast forward a year, the production happens and I finally got to finish off this thing of playing the Phantom and got to do eight months, the Opera House and then in Melbourne. But it felt like sort of 3 years of stuff. And at the end of it, I was pretty pretty burnt out. But the producers had um had called um in early late November of 2022, so just before the production finished in in Melbourne, and said, "Could you audition for Lay Miser? Um we'd love you to play Jean Bjan. We're interested in you for that." Um and so I did some online stuff and ended up getting the role. The thing is they wanted me to start the week after finishing Phantom. And I was in such a scarcity mindset around finances um around whether or not I get this opportunity again. Um my manager had sort of said, "Hey, we can't bulk at this." I knew I needed 3 months off and I just didn't have the balls to say it. And so I went over to London um really exhausted, wiped out, about to start the run of the hardest male role in musical theater. Um Jean Bjon is like no other. It's a it's a huge mountain to climb seven times a week. Um and there was a part of me was like, you're you're running about 40% here, mate. And so I got into rehearsals. Three days into rehearsals, we're doing a fight scene between Bashon and Jave, his nemesis.

great, I get a break. I really want to do a vapasha. um here's 12 day I can't speak for let's meditate three times a day for 10 days and do the thing but intuitively what kept coming out for me was you need to stop you need to stop so the feather was the feeling of burnout the brick was the the forearm to the throat and once again I didn't have the balls what the caveat to it was is that at the end of the production in a Phantom in Melbourne Cameron Macintosh who as I mentioned is sort of worldrenown producer had finally after 450 performances of Phantom finally see me do it and I was a little nervous but I did a solid show. He took me out for brunch a couple of days later. I thought we're going to chew the fat. He was going to celebrate my performance and can't wait for John Valjon and here's all the things tips and tricks to play it over the last you know from people over the last 40 years. Instead, he told me how much he was looking forward to seeing me do the role, having seen all the rave reviews and heard wonderful stories and how bitterly disappointed he was in my performance. And for me, it was like daddy saying, um, you're not good enough. And so, there was a part of my ego that was like, I'm going to get on that lane miserab stage regardless of this injury. I'm going to come back and I'm going to prove to daddy that I'm worthy, that I'm enough, that you value me, that you see me, that you respect me, that you love me, you know? And so I did everything I could to get back, got back, and probably 2 months into it was like flying. I was like, I'm \[ \_\_ \] nailing this. Like, get him in. Like, like ego was just like, get him in to watch me. He needs to see me. He needs to recontract me. Um, I need to prove my worth to daddy. Um, he comes in, he sees the show, races up to my dressing room, super complimentary. I put it on him on the spot. So, am I going to stay along for longer? Oh, yeah. Stay another 6 months, you know. And I'm like, daddy loves me, you know, and they offered me a a contract. And at that time, my father's heart starts to play out back home. And I was like, this doesn't feel right. this doesn't feel right. Spoke to dad about it. He had some tests. Everything seemed to be okay, but just something didn't just didn't feel right. Um but the money was exorbitant. Had that scarcity stuff around money. And uh said yes to the contract. Um starting rehearsals with the new cast. We have little holiday periods you go on. I go on a trip to Portugal. I'm at the airport. Get a call from my sister. Have you spoken to mom and dad? I'm like, "No, you should call them immediately." Call them. And they said, "Hey, we didn't want to tell you because I know

to sever my my renewal contract. Um, I got back from Portugal, could barely do the show. The show is so much about the father in your life and becoming the father and singing songs like bring him home. I just wanted to get home. I was literally breaking down on stage like like mid song just crying and the cast really didn't know what was going on. They just, you know, and when when he dies at the end of the show, turns around upstage, the whole cast is there. I'd just be balling like like it was just like I I get tears thinking about it now. It was just too heavy to deal with. So I could barely go on stage. I said, "Can I just have a weekend off?" They gave me a weekend off. I went out surfing. Went to like an urban surf. Um wiped out. I'm not very good. Um wip wiped out. Board comes back. Hits me in the same spot in the throat. Oh no. Um immediate nerve damage. got back through copious amounts of cortisone to do one last show and then couldn't sing for a year. Um had multiple procedures and and this was the biggest wakeup call. Firstly around scarcity, secondly around putting placing all of my selfworth and value and enoughness in another human being, giving them the agency, the power. Um and it it taught me so much. Um, thankfully it's sort of like guided me onto my second mountain of life around writing and podcasting and now coaching. I wouldn't have probably done that. It's probably still been the West End, you know, in an ego trip. Um, but it it was like it's a long story, but I thought it was worth telling because it was the biggest wakeup call of my life. And I think those high high performers who put so much value in what they do and not who they are and and find their self worth in achievement and validation and outcome it only ever leads to suffering.

fruits of the actions whether they're good or bad. That's that's where that's where suffering exists and and certainly there's a lot of suffering for me and it but it taught me massive things. So that's that's my wakeup call story. Right. And that's today's show. Josh, thank you for sharing that part of your story. There's so many things to unpack because I can imagine there's so many people listening to this like well I'm not standing on Broadway and I know I'm told not to identify with the job that I do and the role that I play yet everything that you teach is all about being the who is the person behind the mask. So how do we help people detach from that that mentality of being defined by what they do like the human doing? I mean, we teach that a lot, but we'd love to hear it from your point of view. Yeah. Well, the the the persona, it's actually interesting that the the Latin word for mask is persona. Huh. How good is that?

and we're all one. Um and in yogic philosophy that layer is you they talk about the sheets of the of the self. They call it the koshers. K O S H A S not something that me and my Jewish counterparts do in order to make sure we eat correctly. Um it's it's the five sheets of the self. So they talk about the the sheath of the physical body, the mental body, the energetic body which a lot of people would know as like prana. Chinese medicine would refer to it asqi. Breath is a big part of that. Um and we might go into that a bit later. Um and then the wisdom body like our intuitive body and then this body that exists beneath all of that which is called anunda which is our bliss body. They believe there is an ocean of infinite joy that resides inside of everyone. So we look at bliss where bliss is within you. Um and there's a beautiful Joseph Campbell quote that if you follow your bliss it leads you down a path that's been there waiting for you all along. So you got to follow that that thing. But what is that bliss body that deep layer? Well that's what we call our authentic self. But I also feel that we find it in life in moments of play. So that bliss authenticity and play are intersecting and intertwining like DNA. But where do when when did we play? And when was play just an expression, a free expression of who we were without conditioning, without being told we need to be a certain way, without the system altering us or boxing us, pigeon holing us. It was when we were 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Yeah. So it's preconditioning. And so if we can go back to an early childhood memory, one where we are probably happy or playful, close your eyes and just go into that memory. You're like might want to do it now. And it might be a come to you very quickly of when you're playing. It might be a photo that you go then into the photo, but as long as you're in the first person in it, notice what you're doing and who you're with and where you are. And then notice maybe two, three, four, five feelings that arise. Yeah. And for me, the feelings were I remember I'm with my best friend, my oldest friend, Jonathan Stagel. We're playing in the garden and I am curious and I am adventurous and I am affectionate and I am loving and I am cheeky. So cheeky. And I know that when I move through the world in those ways, curiosity, cheeky, adventurous, affectionate, loving, that I'm expressing my bliss. I'm expressing my authenticity. I'm far more playful and therefore I'm far more free. And so performing with that authenticity, bliss, and playful energy is just an expression of all of that. But whether I do a good job, bad job, whether you like it or hate it, whether the reviews are good or the producer says I s it doesn't define my worth or my authenticity. And I'd love to know if you did that exercise just quickly that I saw you guys closing your eyes, what may have came up for you. It's a really simple exercise to find your authenticity and your bliss. I was hanging upside down on monkey bars. Yes, you were. Of course, you swing on them on my knees like and hang upside down and then swing and swing and then do a back flip and land on my feet. And uh so I was adventurous. I was brave. I was fearless. Uh I was connected. I was present. Um and cute. Beautiful. Yeah. Beautiful. And I'm sure if you lead with all of that in your life, which you have done many times and probably know yourself so well, continue to do that. But you know, when you move away from those things, there is a disconnect from who you really are. Yeah. Um as you know, your innate qualities. Yeah. So, I want to hear Tessa's and then I want to ask a question if I could. I really struggled cuz I'm in um I'm in quite an action mindset this morning and I found it really hard and it those exercises which we've done with a lot of people in some way, shape or form. A lot of people struggle cuz their child they don't have that many early happy memories. So, it's like I really had to work myself down then to say like where did you feel the most free because I think that's and it's in the ocean taking risks, diving in the waves um and just just playing and allowing to go with the flow and reading the room. So, it's all of those sorts of things. So, in it I just found freedom. Okay. That's when I feel the most young and inspired in. Nice. So my question to you Josh is how do we how do we stay connected to that because it's a it's a beautiful moment to go into and go oh yeah I remember that but then then staying connected to it irrespective of what's going on around the world. So it's one thing to know it it's another thing to embody it. So how do we embody it consistently? So good. So glad you asked that because when I'm when I'm working with clients, that's the one thing I care most about is not that you can conceptualize it or intellectualize it. It's that you have an embodied experience of what it actually feels like. Um, and the way I do that is through visualization. Um, and so I well, so once you've established it, and this is this is what I call giving away the gold cuz people play mega bucks to come and see me for this stuff. Um, I I take them into a visualization where they arrive back to a home that is only their home of bliss. It's not a home they lived in when they were a kid. It's a home of bliss and they had the key to

each room and really feel what comes up. See what comes up. notice it, smell it, have a sensory experience and an energetic experience and a deeply felt experience of what's in those rooms. And I guide each individual through that. And it's um it's something they go to sleep with each night. It becomes so a part of their DNA. It hits them at a cellular level um that it's this all you do in the world is express that. And you notice when you're moving away from it and you notice the things like anxieties and fear stories and self-limiting beliefs and shame, \[ \_\_ \] shame, regret, humiliation stories, all these things that get in the way of you expressing that like layers of it. Um that that can be can be sticky for some. Um but what happens if we let those layers define us? We end up wearing a lot of masks and and moving around the world not as who who we are. Free. Yeah. I wanted something you said before is embodied. An embodied self or an embodied human is free is fun. Fun and playful and curious. How did that change your life when you embodied that? Because what we look at is whenever Lane tells her story, oh, I won seven world titles, six in a row. Two were in love, five were in fear. Had to count to seven. Nailed it. And And I And do you need shame, fear, guilt, anger, resentment, daddy wounds, mommy wounds to achieve success? Because we all have those stories and I and there is a common link between high performers who either turn from victim to victor. But in there that feels like there is a driving force. Is that the hero's journey that you go actually I don't need that shame. I'm loved. I'm in my bliss home. I'm free. And then you have your sort of night of the soul and you come back and you're free and you're fun and you win your seventh world title or for you return to stage. Like in that tension, how do you get someone who's high performer because they've struggled to high performer because they're in their bliss home? What does that look like as a journey and what does that feel like particularly for yours? Yeah, great question. Great question. I my feeling is that it's not just high

the fuel but ultimately what we're talking about is um this first mountain of lifestyle. It's about me. It's about my success. Um there's something egotistical about it. There's something um of the of the self needing to be healed in your own um outcome driven mindset. And what inevitably happens if you have some suffering in it or you realize you you get to like I talk about suffering of success a lot which is often a feeling of emptiness actually at the top of the mountain and so you realize you've got to pro this isn't going to be the only mountain you climb and so like the hero's journey that has you know the the death of of things that that happen probably in the middle of your journey um you need to go into the valley of your \[ \_\_ \] the other side of the mountain and you sit in that alley potentially for a while as you learn and as you grow and as you finally realize what your purpose in life truly is. And purpose for me is defined by as not an outside achievement or some goal or aim waiting to be realized or obtained or to get. It comes from you but ultimately it's fundamentally not about you. It's the contribution. is the impact or the positive service you can offer to the world. And so the second mountain becomes one of impact or contribution. So you might win that title, but you won that title from a place that wasn't about what I can get from the world or gain from the world. It's what I can give to the world or to someone, how I'm inspiring or helping others or so the focus isn't about me me. the focus is so much broader and that for me is where a rich and fulfilling life comes from. Um it cannot come from an obsession with the self. It has to be so much bigger than 100%. Yeah. I was just thinking when he's talking about the valley of \[ \_\_ \] it's it's really \[ \_\_ \] uncomfortable to sit in the valley. Oh, it's \[ \_\_ \] awful. It's awful. And but that's where the obsession with me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me start starts to take hold and it's the realization that it's not all about me that helps me climb out of the valley. But for the people that are stuck in the valley of \[ \_\_ \] how do we get them to detach from the me me and embrace the we we like how do we get them there's our title we we we Yeah. Uh it's it's a you mentioned a hero's journey and we mentioned Joseph Campbell earlier. It's a it's a it's a beautiful arc and I feel like we're all going through a hero's journey. We're going through multiple there's the giant one. Uh you know every breath is a hero's journey and that it goes on an adventure. It has some sort of death or whatever and then there's the return. Like that's you know we can put a hero's journey into a single moment but nothing can be forced in there. What we know about a hero's journey is you need a you need a Dumbledore or you need an Obi-Wan Kenobi or a Yoda or or some sort of guide, mentor, coach, therapist, guru, soul to help you along the way. It's not a journey you can go alone and um we need some wax on, wax off. Whatever it is, you won't do it alone. And there has to be an incredible trust in another individual. Um, and therefore a surrendering to your experience and that experience surrendering and not resisting the fact that you're in the mud and the \[ \_\_ \] of your life and that inside your wounds there is a gift. You know, the wound is the place where the light enters as said and so you can't avoid the mud and the \[ \_\_ \] You can't want to get out quicker. You've got to have a conscious descent into your own darkness. And that's that's a part of it. But it's only in those dark dark

know have a pill and have a panadol and you get rid of the headache and you know it's all done it's over. It will take time and you will go back down to the mud at times and you'll come back out and go, "Oh, \[ \_\_ \] How am I back down in the mud?" In fact, sometimes you get so used to being in the mud and quite liking what you find in there that you have a resistance to the return and to shifting from, you know, all about meat to wee wee we we not because it's you don't want to help, but you go, "Oh, what else can I find down here? This is quite interesting. I can't \[ \_\_ \] breathe, but there's some gems down here." So know that that is a process, a process that you won't do alone alone, but at some point in that process, you will shift from outcome, whether it's the outcome of getting more stuff down there to impact and your life will will really become one of of contribution. Um, even if it still involves the same career path, you'll shift your mindset from it. And could be as very as simple as for me, oh my god, they're not watching me. It's not about them watching me. It's not about them judging me or observing me or having a subjective opinion from adoration to despising me. It's about what I can give them. And I know exactly what I want to give them. I want to give them a non-ordinary experience, a deeply felt experience so that they know what it's like to feel the depths of the human experience. That's what I'm here for. That's my soul's purpose. Oh my god. I don't have to just do that in a \[ \_\_ \] musical, do I? I could do that on a podcast. I could do that writing a book. I could do that coaching. I could do that in this conversation. I could do that, you know, in conversation with my family and friends. Even if they say, "Josh, don't \[ \_\_ \] coach me. I just want to have a conversation." You know, like like it's suddenly your purpose becomes so much more expansive than the limited confines in which you were existing only moments earlier. It's so beautiful because I feel like when in your when you're in the mud, all you see is mud and you start getting um special attention, people looking after you, you start to get a love that perhaps you didn't have before. And this was something that was really strong in my story. I was like, "Oh, people like I had to allow myself to be cared for." And I had always been the carer. Like, so it was a process. It wasn't just being in the mud. It was allowing people to hold my hand to you do use you like turn on my phone like on the simple like I couldn't go to the toilet by myself for a long time. It was like a total surrender of like okay so that's what you want universe you want me to learn how to be loved and depend on others and depend on others like and that is okay but then that you're you're right there's a point where you just call \[ \_\_ \] on yourself and you just say I don't want this anymore I don't need this anymore who do I want to be and how do I want to serve and that was the big wakeup call that I had was like you don't go you don't get afforded this pain to not do anything with it cuz like we like to say Josh we're all humans walking ourselves back home and bringing bit of rumas there yeah bit of rumas so Josh we really want to get and can I just say that on that that I've had many mentors and you know I thank Jake who was huge for me when I was in London Ashra Pacman has been huge for me Ben Crow's been huge for me others have been huge for me But you know if I say oh who's your guru and we say guru is you know guru means darkness remover guru dark ru remover who's shown you the light it's rammedas you know I've I've basically you know spent it 8 years with with the man seven eight years with him and for 95% of them he's not been alive in this body and yet his impact on for me was profound. I talk about the vapashna I did in my apartment like it was 24/7 Ramdas you know old transcripts looking back over all sorts of thing I've spent so much time with this this man this this spirit the soul guiding me um he there's no one who's been bigger in in my life from a spiritual and and hero's journey perspective what's the one thing that you take from Ramdas that you could share with those listening who don't know him or who are now really interested and probably googling him. What is his truth that you and I both love?

you loving in a way that goes ah I'm not going to be honest there because I don't want to upset or hurt or play with a fire there or you know whatever. And how time how many times are you truthful and you go I've let kindness, compassion, understanding, forgiveness, acceptance fall away or fall to the wayside so I can just be truthful. How in every moment can you sustain both love and truth for everybody? There's no harder curriculum. I'm still working on it and I screw it up every day. We're all humans. Hey. Yeah, that's a my one and I use this a lot and I've talked to Lane about it. Um he uses this method uh metaphor of a tree. He's like when you observe a tree or trees, you can see them when they're like they haven't had enough shade. Um so they're growing in certain ways or they've had sunlight only comes in in one spectrum of it. So the tree sort of grows straight to the sunlight. So you're looking at trees not as judgment but as observation. And that is how we should look at humans is in observation awareness as opposed to judgment because you don't look at a tree and go, "Oh, you stupid tree. You didn't get enough sunlight to that, right? You're fat and you're cranky and you're dry and yeah, look at you all shriveled over there." And so now whenever Blena or I get into judgment, cuz we do, we're like, "Tree, tree, tree, tree, tree." I love that. It's one of my favorites. I use it with clients every time they do the program with me. And the biggest one in that judgment is how are you treating yourself like a tree? How are you judging yourself? Because our judgments of ourselves and around our own insecurities end up being projected to those around us. so so much so that we got to turn inwards with that open accepting curious lens before I think we we turn outward with it. Beautiful. So Josh, we need to take a break and normally we do a bit of a breath break where we give everyone a second or a moment. Um it's brought to everyone by our vitality partner AIA Vitality to just give us a moment. So we thought you could lead that for us today. Could you take us through a 30 secondond breath breath break? Absolutely. Grab this little um 30 second little reset. It is it is so easy, but it is proven to be the most scientific way to change your physiological state. Bam. Like a click of a finger. So, take a big breath in through your nose, filling up your belly and your ribs, but not all the way. Then take another sniff in so you get a 400% inhale. Pause for a moment. Open your mouth. Audibly sigh out releasing every bit of air. Two more times. Sniff in 80%. Another sniff to get to 100. Pause for a moment. Audible sigh. Make an orchestra out of your mouth. One more time. Sniff. Sniff horse letting all go people. It's a good feeling. I bet it's like a drug with your breath. Delicious. Yeah, I do. More energized. Yeah, I do that. So, I trust everyone enjoyed that breath break. Thank you so much, Josh. So, to end every podcast, we like to hand the reinss over to you because there's so much science that you've leed. You haven't just gone to the depth of the mud and been stuck in it. You've done the work. You've got credentials. You've lived experience, which is what we absolutely love. But one thing that you I don't think you shy away from it is like you've just got this spiritual wisdom that wraps around your package which is so unique and so beautiful. So what is your method for everyone listening who's probably driving to work or going to or going for a run or going for a run? What would what would be their tool for them so that they could build self-awareness around meditation, breath, spirituality and just your inner wisdom? Yeah. Um I I have a real simple philosophy that everything with behind the mask coaching comes back to is that your state like your nervous system, your physiological state will always shape and impact your story. And before we start to reframe your story or have mindset tools to shift your perception well of how you see yourself in the world, we we've got to start looking at the state cuz that's going to affect your story and that's going to affect what I call the spotlight where you put your focus, your attention and your actions, right? And the easiest way to change your physiological state without relying on anything else, nature or a massage or going for a run or this or that is the breath. You know, it's with you every second of every day from the moment you step into this world to the moment you leave. And 95% of the world have no idea how to use it effectively. And if you can use your breath more effectively and understand it better and then embody the breath in a much better way, it's going to change your state and therefore your story and your spotlight.

it is so much easier to do the work of going inward. And it's stupidly simple. Everyone should know it. They should be teaching it to us in prep. It's 5 1/2 seconds in through the nose and 5 and a half seconds out through the nose. And so I call it 365 breathing. 365 three times a day about six breaths a minute for 5 minutes. So if you do this three times a day, even for for 5 minutes for a week, you'll feel from an embodied sense. We're talking about that so different. And you can go to Spotify and listen to the track Two Bells by Coherence and literally close down your eyes. You could do it in the car really like like it's it's that easy. Well, sitting at, you know, waiting to go back inside before you go and meet the the end of part of your day after after work, you know, like or you could do it in the office or you could, you know, do it at park. You can do it anywhere. It's so simple. Follow that that bell. Breathing in for five and a half seconds and out for five and a half seconds through your nose. Nice long slow deep belly breaths. That LSD breath. Um it's the best trip you'll ever go on. Um honest honestly, that that's it. That's the that's what I would get everyone to do. And if I if the world was doing heart coherence breeding three times a day for 5 minutes, it it would be heaven on earth cuz it takes you into homeostasis. And homeostasis for me, that's heaven on earth. You know, you're relaxed, grounded, and you feel peaceful. So that's it. And blissful state. That's it. Nice. That's that's it. That is and I'm so passionate about it and so fierce on it. Um because I see it time and time again. Um, we want magic pills to to shift this, but it's not magic pills. It's this is doing the work, and that it starts with your breath. Josh, you coach a lot of AFL players and executives. What have you noticed? And you don't have to mention any names. Um, and you're a Bulldogs fan, but we won't hold that against you either. Um, is what have you noticed? It's like what's something that you can tangibly tell us that someone who was potentially struggling on the field or performance-wise once they implemented state and this five breath, what happened to them? How did they change on the field in those big moments? Yeah. So, some things happen with that breath work and some subsequent breath work that that we do is that um their heart rate variability and this is what this particular breath work does. is it increases heart rate variability increases and we know that heart rate variability not only is a the subtle um increase in distance between consecutive heartbeats but it's also the best scientific measure we have of emotional mental resilience what it does it builds as it increases it builds our window of tolerance and there's that great John Kitt Zin quote you can't stop the waves but you can learn to s you know and it's a beautiful one by the way and so what it does increases your window of tolerance for what life throws at you. So as the pressure cooker of the game, which is always going to throw stuff at you, comes and goes, your ability to stay grounded, to stay clear, to stay present, focused, and make great decisions is has expanded. So the game's doing its thing all the time. It hasn't changed. Your relationship to self and your own physiology has changed. Yeah. Um, so that's what I noticed big time with it. And so these guys make better decisions. Better decisions lead to better moments. Better moments lead to a shift in story, a shift in your spotlight. So once again, it all starts with the state. And I've see it time and time and time again. Like um and and they the other thing is they love it. You know, athletes like Lane, you'll probably like this. It's like, oh my god, I got 1% better this week. I'm like, I love 1% better. Like, and it's the same for corporates, you know, this growth mindset is in them. So like.1% \[ \_\_ \] fantastic. Like anything that gives you that little bit of an edge um is is amazing. Yeah. And I love that. And I'd like to reflect particularly to everyone listening like where can you improve your state? Like where can you calm your nervous system and implement this breath break which we will link in the show notes as well so that you can show up and catch the wave when it comes to you. Yes. LB, what do you hear in Josh's story that you hear in yourself or see in yourself? Oh, just all of it. Uh, you know, the scar mentality, the \[ \_\_ \] valley, uh, the realization that you're not doing this alone, that you do have a support crew around you, but being willing to lean in and do the work. I'd say when you were talking about guru, Josh, I feel like the greatest guru in my life has actually been my mirror and having the courage to look in it because I I am at the center of all my own suffering, but I'm also at the center of my joy. And I have to allow myself to be in both of those states at the same time and recognize that I have the capacity to endure this and I also have the network to help me out of this. But I am I'm the author. I'm the architect of that. Um the the the ability to switch from being outcome driven to process driven, the connection with breath. I mean all of these tools have helped me perform at the top of my game and and be a sustained achiever. M uh and they're really powerful tools. So Josh, I just want to say thank you so much for for not only sharing the man behind the mask, but for being the man behind the mask because it's your authenticity, it's your vulnerability, it's your truth that helps give us the courage to lean into our own as well and and realize that while it might be scary, I love the fact that that kindness and love and truth can coexist. And for some reason, we put truth and love at opposite sides of a spectrum. And that's just that's where pain and suffering actually is prolonged. Um, so it's been a really insightful and powerful reflection of things that I know that perhaps I've just forgotten. Um, and just reassuring that if you're willing and and able to to sit in the discomfort, to lean in and do the work, and to have the courage to reach out and ask for help, that you can shine a light, you can be of great service, you can live a purposeful life, and you can be a most awesome human being like Josh Peterman. Yeah, he sure is. Did he exceed your expectations? Oh, Josh, um, it's interesting. I had this moment in real life yesterday. Lane is in the Archer Bowl this year, everyone. So, this episode will be airing post Archbold. We'll find out whether you win or not. Doubt. I trust that she will win because she's been doing her breath work. And um I really want to go to that moment because it is such a big moment in life, Archbold. Like to be recognized, you've got to be at the top of your game. It's you've got to be painted well by someone at the top of their game. You got to allow yourself to be seen, right? And it is so beautiful, but you have to be someone who's had impact in the world in some way, shape, or form. like reading the descriptions I'm like these people are incredible and the artists are amazing. The artists like so it's like a combo of someone's life skills and life passion coming together and the logistics for me to get there on Friday night are crazy and I was in a really dark space about it and I was kind of moaning to Chris about how h how hard it was and I just went for a walk. I did my own version of a breath work and I just said, "Wake the \[ \_\_ \] up, Tess. It is only hard because you are making it hard in your head. It is only hard because you've given yourself every reason why you can't and why the logistics don't work in your favor." I'm like, "What can I choose to be easy right now? What can I see?" And I just got the answer, put it into action. I'm making it happen. And I'm like, God, it's such like when you get that when you look in the mirror as your own guru, the world really does unfold. You were hanging in the valley of \[ \_\_ \] for way too long. I was I was like, wake up. So to everyone, this has been your wakeup call. Josh, we know a lot of people are going to want to work with you. So where can they find you? What can they do with you? Uh easiest place to find me, I think, is uh on Instagram, actually. Uh behind the mask coaching. Um or honestly, like just send me an email. Joshkpamgmail.com. Yeah, I get I'm gonna flood. It's gonna flood through. Yeah, um well, if this conversation has stirred something in you, you can see Josh or come to awakeacademy.com.au where we have got you in our collective. We do lots of deep dive master classes. We might need to bring you in for one, Josh, to lead a breath work with us, but I guess this work just shows you that you really can sail the waves. Well, you can surf the waves. You can ride the waves. I'd much rather surf them than sail them. They make me seasick when I'm sailing them. So, let's just surf them. Yeah. But thank you, Josh. From us to you, thank you for giving your wisdom and truth to the world. And to our listeners, hold on. Go on the journey and come through bigger, stronger, wiser, and in more bliss. We love you. Toodles. See you next week. Thanks, Josh. Thanks, Josh. Thanks, guys. Have you been listening to this episode and thought, "Mike drop. Maybe I'm ready to get coached or have some therapy, but you don't want to go all the way down and get a therapist. Welcome to the Awake Collective where we do monthly coaching to help people feel accountable, supported, and they keep on doing the work that you hear in this podcast. It is life transformative. Right, LB? It's a community of support and like-minded people who are willing to keep investing in themselves because what we do is we help people help themselves. If you've enjoyed what you've heard today, then the Awake Collective is for you. So, come and join us at awakeacademy.com.au and join us for monthly coaching, a community that supports you and tools that you can use in your life to thrive. Let's go. See you there. Before we close, we just want to gently remind you that Awake Academy is not a licensed mental health service and this podcast is not a substitute for personalized mental health advice, assessment, diagnosis, or treatment. What we share here is general in nature and is designed to offer reflection, insight, and practical tools for everyday life. Therapy can be life-changing, and we deeply encourage you to speak to your GP about your mental health and well-being options. Sync to video time