S2E02 with Jay Bradley - You've Got To Feel It To Heal It

Start the new year with simple practices to release stress, focus your mind, and create a life you love! This week I sit down with Jay Bradley, a certified Breathwork practitioner, who shares his powerful journey from childhood struggles in the small town of Thunder Bay, Canada, to becoming a transformational healer here in the US and abroad.

Growing up as an extremely sensitive child, Jay faced relentless bullying, which led him to hide his identity, especially as he grappled with being gay. Numbing the pain through overspending, perfectionism, and other coping mechanisms, he eventually embarked on a 30-year spiritual and emotional healing journey to reclaim his self-love and worth.

An invitation to a Breathwork group proved life-changing, helping Jay release years of pain, shame, and fear in a single session. This transformative experience inspired him to dedicate his life to teaching Breathwork, guiding others to move from pain to freedom and reconnect with their inner power.

Jay’s mission is to help people remember who they truly are and live the life they deserve. Listen in for an inspiring conversation about healing, purpose, and transformation.

Welcome to the conversation!

To learn more about Jay & Breathe On It, visit https://www.breatheonit.net

Thank you for joining us and we can't wait to welcome you back again next week! New episodes drop every Thursday and can be found wherever you find your favorite podcasts!  

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Transcript

0:05

Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Just2u podcast. My name is Eric Nicole and I'm your host. If you are a first time listener, welcome to the conversation. And if you're a regular, I'm honored that you've decided to join me for another episode. The Just2u podcast is centered around a network of conversations, which are meant to connect us, to inspire https: otter. ai And who knows? We might even learn a little something new that ultimately allows us to live in the sweet spot that I like to call the just you, you space it being. Each week I have the privilege of sitting down for unscripted conversations with friends, family, colleagues, community leaders, and influencers that all share their own personal journeys. I hope that you enjoy our time together as much as I have. We are certainly gonna laugh, and yes, we might even cry a little, but in the end, we're gonna know that we're not alone during our life's journey. So, are you ready? Great, let's do this. Welcome to The Conversation. All right, everyone. Welcome to today's episode. We are so blessed to have you with us. I am super excited today to introduce you to my guest. I have been on this journey of wellness and mindfulness and Self care for years now. And through that process, I've been able to meet some really extraordinary people. And sometimes as much as I don't like social media, I was actually able to find Jay on his Instagram page. So I'm excited today to welcome Jay Bradley. Hey, Jay. Hi, I'm happy to be here and I feel the same way about social media. It's a blessing sometimes, but sometimes it can be a total suck of your time, right? It's just crazy. Yeah. Well, presence and being present, but yeah, we're, you know, so distracted, but it's also essential to get our message out. So It is. And it's also essential to meet people. I realized that, you know, you and I probably, even though we have many, many friends in common, as we've found out on Instagram, the chances of us potentially meeting and crossing paths since I moved out of the desert may have been nil. So for me to be able to find you was really a blessing. And so I'm excited to have you today. For our listeners. I want to introduce Jay. Jay is the founder and creator of Breathe On It and is a breathwork healer and also teacher. We're going to talk about that. He is also the founder and creator of Chakra Bombs, which we're going to talk about as well. And that's B A L M S. Yeah. Yeah. Just to be clear, not a bomb, but a balm. And we're going to talk about that. And you're also an author of a book called Live, Look, and Feel. And so I'm excited to welcome you on. Yeah. Jay, with your permission, I would just like to read your bio a little bit, because I think it really sets the tone for the conversation. Then we're going to jump right in. Is that okay with you? Yeah, I would love that. Thank you. Okay. Awesome. So Jay grew up in a small town in Canada called Thunder Bay. I looked it up. It's absolutely beautiful. But you were an extra sensitive kid, which led to a series of bullying and physical attacks. You say from kindergarten to high school, you learned to hide. Slowly put layers of protection up in order to fit in and at the very least to survive Knowing you were gay didn't help and you worked really hard to hide your truth You used overspending sleep coffee sex perfectionism to numb out. I think a lot of us can relate to that And the pain though prompted you to begin your own spiritual and emotional journey, which you've been on for 30 years Which is really remarkable And in your bio you said that you began to understand that a lack of self love and self worth and shame had taken over and really guided and directed you down a path that would require a lot of work to get out of. You were invited to a breathwork session, and that experience really changed your life and you were able to release. What you say is a lifetime of pain, shame, fear, self loathing, and grief in one session. So we're going to talk about that, right? So that you were really taken by this and it really, caused a shift in you and had you really focus and make it your mission to learn more about breath work, the benefits of it, and then also how it can be used as a healing modality. And you currently now use it as an inspiration for yourself to help people Breakthrough and to transform and to find this life, not only that they love, but that you deserve. So, did I do that justice? That was beautiful. I couldn't have said it better myself. I think you did because I think you wrote it for you. Is that me? Wow. That's you. But you know, Jay, in what you said is, I've been doing this podcast now for a year. I think we're 40 plus episodes in and a common theme for many people within the lgbtq plus community have had that same experience growing up in the towns that we grew in or the cities with the bullying and with the constant fear. I'm curious to talk to you a little bit about that because I know for a fact for myself and the work that I've done over the past couple of years, I'm a breath holder. So I hold my breath constantly throughout the day, during the evening, when doing sessions, I've had a few massage therapists tap me on the shoulder and say, are you going to breathe through this process? So I want you to talk a little bit about your own journey and that realization as well and how you came into this. I'd love to hear from you, your own words, what that was like for you growing up. First of all, I do have a question. So you're born in Thunder Bay in Canada. Yes. Thunder Bay, Canada. Yeah. And then when did you move to the United States? I moved in 2007. I moved to New York City first. Okay. So you spent quite a bit of time in Canada. I just wanted to set the tone for that. So please, give us a little bit of background and history. What was it like for you growing up in Thunder Bay, Canada? Yeah, it's interesting because you talked about the bullying and, you know, the lack of self esteem, but from as early back on as I can remember, I also had health issues from, you know, from baby onward, actually, and ironically, asthma, breathing issues and allergies. Love the irony there. So, yeah, so it was a journey of like, Oh, God, how do I feel better? Physically? I'm tired. I'm not well. And then, of course, As I moved on that path, I realized, wow, okay, this is actually emotional. There's some spiritual and emotional stuff going on, but it was just a lot of digging, a lot of layers that, that I had to uncover, but that's why I love breathwork and we'll talk obviously about that today because there's physical, emotional, and spiritual benefits to breathwork. And it kind of covers the gamut, which I love. Quick question before you go on to, do you think. with your experience and what you found through your work with your clients. Is this something, this breadth? issue, if I can call it that. Does it start back when we're kids? Does it start early on? Or does it happen later in life when we become aware and we become more aware and tend to cover and hide and use that lack of breath, as a, as a protection or as an escape? Yeah. Well, if we watch babies breathe, they actually know how to breathe. We're born knowing how to breathe that belly goes up and it goes down. Right. And somewhere along the way I believe it's trauma response. Our nervous system holds on. Right. We we put up guards and protection and that our breath is automatically connected to that. I, I just did that. Right. Well, I always say most of us live from here up. Yep. Right. We're like shallow breaths, shallow life. That's what I like to say. Yeah. And so as we can Make that breath more rich and deep and just be more aware of it. It really, really can help our nervous system and all, all aspects of our life. So I think it's something we learn along the way. And is it something too, that you think should be taught? Oh God, don't you wish, I mean, when I was a kid, I think I would be so much further ahead and it's, it's something we absolutely just like finances and, you know, how to organize our life, but breath is key and yeah, we don't learn anything about it. Especially if it's something that's related to those trauma moments and that if we could have the medical profession understand that trauma moment, if you're dealing with a psychologist or psychotherapist or even a medical practitioner, you know, if we're dealing with trauma and there are obviously multiple modalities of being able to deal with that trauma, but we don't take breath into consideration. We don't take, are you holding on? Are you, you know, not breathing, which I have to do. Right now as well. So I think that would be really amazing to be able to have that be a key component of dealing with trauma is dealing with that aspect of breath work. Yeah. And I think, well, I think obviously it's something we do automatically without even thinking about, and I think we take it for granted. Right? Oh, a hundred percent. Like, yeah, we're, we're alive, we're breathing. But when we actually use it as a tool to really help unlock some of these blocks and barriers and stuck emotions it's, it's unbelievable. I'm still amazed at how powerful just breathing can be, especially the kind of breath that I teach. It's, it's remarkable. And like I said, in one session, what can show up, it's incredible. I want to get to that in a minute. So when you are obviously growing up, we talked about the bullying. We talked about that constant threat. When did you come out? Yeah. Well, I knew from grade two or three, you know, I, I definitely knew something was going on, but I think I didn't really come out until I met my first partner at 21. Okay. That's when I kind of shared it with my family and really, really came out. Mm hmm. And were you still in Canada at that point or were you living here in the U. S.? I was in Toronto. Yes. Toronto. Cool. Similar story. I was saying I was 24. So I came out quite a bit later when I met my first partner as well. Yeah. It's such an experience that whole coming out, even, even now I know my partner's going through it right now and I see the challenges, you know, it's, it's that fear of not being accepted fully, right. Not being loved for who we really are. And I think that fear goes on. I think it's a lot easier now than it's ever been, but still challenging. I'm starting to question, is it easier now? I really am starting, especially now. I'm wondering if it is easier or if it's now more, more a sense of fear which is going to cause, a lot of illness as we move through. So I'm hoping that, you know, with this enlightenment that we do have and the accessibility online to people like you and to other types of practitioners that we can, we can make this more accessible to people, especially now as they're coming out and dealing with what they have to deal with. So. Came out. Did you know, or did you have an inkling when you were in school, high school, college, that you were going to end up doing breathwork? Not at all. I remember when it showed up and I started to You know, succeed with breathwork. I was like, wow, never, what did you want to do? What were you going to do? Well, I mean, I've done so many things and that's the thing. I guess I think it was a, some astrologer told me, you know, you have like 20 lives in one in this lifetime. And I feel like I've done at least 15 of them. So there's a lot of things I've done. I mean, You know, I mean, I've been a personal trainer. I've been a massage therapist. I've been a wellness coach. I was an actor, singer, model and then I moved into more of the holistic Reiki hypnosis. So it's kind of all lead. To this, right? I started with the physical. How do I get? Well, how do I help others get? Well fitness was a big part of my life from 13 years old until until now, actually, it's it's really a big part of my life. So I feel like I looked at what a lot of us do the physical first. Diet, fitness, and then very quickly moved into, Oh, there's more to this. Let's go under the surface. And that's kind of where the journey is led. So in some ways, I've had many people say it's no surprise, even from high school, what you're doing makes so much sense knowing you back in high school, Jay. And so I guess it does fit. I think sometimes our life takes a different turn than we see. The end. But I trust, I'm learning my friend's favorite saying is, trust your life. And that brings me, doesn't that bring me peace? Like, trust your life, Jay. Trust your life. Yeah. Well, I think we're so driven in school to learn English, math, history, science, and we teach all that, but I still, and maybe it's different in some more grounded areas that they're teaching this type of modality like breathwork massage, the more holistic approach, but we don't really teach that, and so are we really exposed to it, right? You know, I'm probably had my first massage when I went into the work that I meant as a meeting planner and was at a hotel and somebody gifted me a massage certificate. And I was like, Whoa, that's super beneficial. And it felt good. And it made me feel better and have more energy. So I was introduced to it that way, as opposed to really knowing all along that these amazing modalities were available right now. I'm the junkie everywhere that I go, everywhere I travel around the world, I'm like, what's the new thing? Is there a breathwork session? Is there, You know, I did a sound bath healing on a floating bed and in Johannesburg, South Africa. I mean, like I try to experience all these things and it's made such a huge impact in my life. And then in the lives that I've shared it with, right. Who have tried it as well. So it would have been nice to have exposure to this at a much early age. I think high school and college would have been a Really different place for me. If I had had a breathwork session, I don't think, I don't think I breathed once in college, right? You just hold your breath. That was me in high school, just fear of being beat up or being bullied. Right. You just, we put this guard up and, and yeah, it affects every aspect of our life. Like I said, and I think that breathwork is amazing because I tried all the modalities for me and this is why I got so hooked is nothing worked. As quickly and effectively as this particular breath. So, you know, may not be for everybody. Other people have a tool that works, but I pretty much like you. I mean, I I've tried so many different things and they're all amazing in their own way, but definitely this is the path that led me here. And practitioners are different, right? Practitioners have different energy. That's right. And you get different things from different practitioners that you meet along the way. And, and I've had the privilege of meeting some extraordinary people like you, and it's just great to know that they're out there. So let's just jump right into this conversation on Breathwork, and we'll talk a little bit about chakras as well. But you go to this Breathwork session, first of all, did you have any idea what you were getting yourself into? And then secondly, I really want to know what If you can explain it so that the listener who may not have experienced can understand what was that first session like for you, because obviously you make a very bold statement in that you were able to release all of that trauma in one session. So let's give the listener an education and what for you, what that was like. Yeah, yeah, for sure. It was a small gay men's group. A friend invited me and I was kind of like tried it all. I guess it's a bit cynical, right? I'm like, oh, God, a breathwork circle. Okay, nothing else going on tonight. Glad I went. So it was very small, probably five men. And he, the teacher just explained the breath that we were going to do, which is the one I've adopted. It's called three parts, circular breath or conscious connected breath. And we'll talk about it, but it's essentially out of the mouth in the belly first into the chest and out. So it's a nice kind of a figure eight breath. And he just played some music played the didgeridoo at the end. And what happened was so profound for me. First of all, I remember getting really, really hot. Where I was actually soaked and then towards the end, I was shivering and freezing, so there was a lot of fluctuation in body temperature, but along the way just a lot of emotion, like within, within five minutes or less, I was crying and, and got to the point where I, Felt like sobbing. I really wanted to vocalize and let out some sound, you know, this teacher was kind of particular about don't let out any sound. Just keep breathing. I'm the opposite, but I really, really felt what was interesting. Talk about chakras was, was feeling some of these energy points, pulsating and throbbing and, and opening. And I knew in that moment that there was, well, sacral, I felt a lot of it around my sacral, which is, you know below the belly button. And I knew that that was a lot of shame around sexuality. Like I knew energetically what was going on. It was an opening and release of all of the emotions that I held in that area. Felt a lot in solar plexus and the heart. And by the end, I just felt so much lighter and I was tapped into almost like I could feel my cells. You know that that feeling holy crap so much more than this physical body, you know, I could feel the vibration and the big thing I have with breathwork is it reminds you who you really are And in that moment, I was like, oh, i'm not my depression. I'm not this anxiety. I'm not all of these addictive habits or you know Fears i'm actually I'm really good. I'm really good. I'm really amazing actually. And I love myself. So it brings you to a place of self love. I got all of that and more in one, in one session. So a shameless plug for my friend, Lawrence Zarian who has his own podcast called you are beautiful. And he just recently interviewed Jason Mraz, who I am now obsessed with. I don't know if you've ever heard him talk, but he shared an amazing story and I strongly recommend people to go listen to it. I'm going to put it up on our. on our social media. But what was interesting when you were talking about that, about your body and the sensations you were feeling is he used the word meat package, which I thought was really funny. This meat package that we walk around the earth in, right? This is our rented vehicle. And I think that's really important because, and it sent shivers down my entire body when he said that, because I realized that so much of what we go through on a daily basis and those of us who really. focusing on being acutely aware of all the sensations in our body from our head to our toes. I think many people walk around this earth through their lives and aren't connected to their own bodies, aren't connected to their own energy because they simply aren't necessarily educated in the chakras and in the importance of breathwork. And relaxation and self care and meditation. And I recently had a friend who asked me what my daily ritual was in the morning. Cause he said, how do you get through the day with an hour of this and an hour of that? And I said, it's, it's, it's individual to every person, right? My morning ritual is literally 15 minutes. four different modalities, 15 minutes. I'm done in an hour. I wake up, feed the dog. She goes out, she pees, she comes back in, she eats, she lays down, goes back to bed for an hour. In that hour that I'm up, I do those four practices. And those four practices make me acutely aware of my body and where my intention is for the day. And I shared with him and said, just try it a couple of times. See what works for you. If the meditation doesn't work, just do the breath. If the breath doesn't work, just do the yoga, but try something. And it's, Amazing that he's called several times and said that he used to jump out of bed in the morning, run, jump in the shower, get to the gym, you know, workout, come back, shower in his suit and at his desk, and didn't even feel like he was in his own body. He's like, I never realized what that was until you said you presence yourself every morning. And so I think people get a little overwhelmed with it. I'm sure a lot of your clients come to you and they're maybe a little hesitant or come like you did his own breath work class. Okay. I will go try it out. But once they experience it, there's an opportunity for them to have an experience of something that shifts for them, right? I did a sound bath healing in Costa Rica with my now business partner, you need to, and it was in the, our of meditation where she also chanted I didn't know what she was saying. I had no concept of what she was saying, but like you in the session, I sobbed for an hour and I woke up at the end of that session. And I felt like all of the weight and the gup from my divorce that had happened back in 2018 and 19 disappeared. And I felt like I lost 50 pounds of weight. And ever since then, there's been this lightness. And so for you, your experience was life changing for many other people that I know, it was life changing. So when you walk out of that session that you had, and you did, you know, in that moment, you had released all that? Or did it come to you over the next couple of days, weeks, months? What was that experience like? Yeah, first of all, I love that you have your morning ritual or practice. I talk a lot about that, the consistent practice in the morning to get centered. Cause I don't know about you, but I, I don't wake up like, Oh, I love life. Life is it's kind of like, Oh, so I got a hundred percent. I have to work at like, okay. Anyway. So that's, that's amazing. I knew, yeah, I knew right away. I felt like I was a bit addicted, a bit hooked to this practice. I'm like, what if this, if this happened in one session, what would happen if I did this regularly? Right. So I did go to a number of his classes, the teacher and then. I said to myself, I'm just going to lay down and breathe at home. We breathe to music for this particular style of breath work. So I just played some music, laid down at home. And every time something new came up, kind of blown away at how much stuff could keep coming up. I probably did that every day for three months, which is, which is really intense. And then. Yeah. And then started to study with a couple of teachers and really make this modality that I could share with others. So that's kind of how it started, but yeah, interestingly enough, just when you think, Oh God, nothing more can come up, you know, cause I think I always thought it was pretty healthy, you know, I knew I had some stuff, but it's amazing when you dig deep and you breathe. Here's the thing about breath work and all the healing is not just our pain and trauma It's actually our ancestors and our family and we pick up on all of that. It's actually in our DNA. So It's a big job. But if we commit to healing it's it's also healing for our family And so this is what's going on for me and still is Yeah, it's, it's so fascinating that you say that because I met a woman by the name of Mallory and she was a guest on my podcast a couple months ago and she has an organization called the Inheritance Project, but it's not inheritance what you think it is. It's the inheritance of what you bring with you from your life and from your family and from your ancestors. And it's fascinating when you look at that, what we bring with us today. To our lives. And I, I, I worry sometimes, especially now, given the climate that we're in of this uncertainty of, of what's to come, that we get ahead of ourselves in our own self care and our own connection to our bodies. And I really believe in, and please chime in if you do as well, that. Now, more than ever, we need to be paying attention to ourselves first and practicing that self care, because if we don't care for ourselves first, and we don't do what we need to do to protect our vessel, our vehicle, our rented vehicle for this journey, then we're no good to anyone else. We can't help anyone else. And I think some people try where we give to others and give to others and give to others, but you have to give to yourself. And for some people that shows up as a little bit selfish or a little bit narcissistic. And I'm shifting that conversation. I love to help people. I love to bring people together. I love to introduce people to people like you, but I also know that for me to be able to be centered and to be the best that I can be in the healthiest that I can be is then going to serve others as well. Do you find that in your practice as well? Absolutely. Yeah. Yep. You know, the oxygen mask, right? Got to put it on ourselves first. So I definitely find that. I mean, it's, some people can call it selfish, but it's really not, it's an act of self love. Because we are here, we're here to share our gifts, and most of us are too caught up in our shit, right, and our heads, and our traumas to even get out there and do that. So, so yeah, putting ourselves first, finding some sort of base, some groundedness, and then working through some of that, some of those blocks and barriers. I mean Yeah. So important. Yeah. What are some of the, physiological effects of this breath work. So for the person who's listening, who may not be exposed to this, obviously breath is important. We need it. But can you talk a little bit about some of the things that it does to your body? Yeah. Well, like I said, physically there's a lot of benefits. We detox our body. We're flushing cells, flushing deep toxins, I should say, through our cells. And we're becoming more alkaline. Our blood is becoming more alkaline, which is always the health, healthy place to be it can help with memory definitely helps with physical pain. That's one thing people report very quickly is oh my god, my pain is gone after one session It's because we're bringing in oxygen and you know bringing attention to that pain Releasing the emotion underneath and suddenly it's gone. So there's there's benefits there We release oxytocin, which is a feel good hormone endorphins something called dmt Dimethyltryptamine, which is in ayahuasca, which is a plant medicine There's still Studies going on with this, but there is some DMT in our pineal gland, third eye, and in our lungs. So when we breathe this deep for an extended period, we release some of that. So that gives us a bit of an out of body experience, and it's fascinating. So, lots of physical benefits. The thing I like to tell people with this particular style of breath, too, to be aware of is some of the side effects. If you've done birth working, you know, it's a little, I wasn't going to bring it up. I'm gonna let you bring it up. Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Something called tetany tetany or lobster claws. My teacher calls it, it's, it's a numbness and tingling in your hands and your arms. Sometimes your feet, even around your mouth. Your hands may even go like claws. It might even rise off the floor or wherever you're lying. And it, again, it can be freaky, but if you know, it's going to happen, then you're prepared. It's just an excess of carbon dioxide leaving the body. You know, we're, we're mixing up the flow of oxygen, carbon dioxide. And we also believe that, you know, it's a lot of energy from the heart moving through your hands. And so lots of shifts going on with that. Not everybody gets tetany. But. A lot of people yawn, get a little dry mouth, you know, a little lightheaded in the beginning. But the thing I look for, and what I love when I'm working with clients, is looking for a heaviness, a resistance, maybe even a pain, or something calling to you in your body and it shows up sometimes very quickly for people. And that's where we like to go, because our body talks to us. All the time. And when we do breath work, it actually forces us to listen because, because things magnify. So if you have depression, if you have anxiety, if you have a physical pain in your body, I tell people very, very good chance it's going to actually get increased, magnified. And that's a good thing. So then we can work at doing some energy release and other techniques when we're breathing. So lots of, never a dull moment when it comes to breathwork. No, but it's also something that I want people to understand. This is not, I hear a lot of people say, this is kind of airy fairy or it's kind of, you know, woo woo, I think is another term that they use. And I think it's important for people to understand and to realize that this kind of a practice breathwork breathwork. you know, meditation, all of these types of things, has been around for a very long time. It's just been overshadowed by, Western medicine, which throws medication at a symptom or an issue. And I'm a firm believer in medication when it's necessary, but I'm also a believer in that there are, don't get me wrong, I'm, I'm fully for it and have used it gratefully. But I also know that my body, myself, is a medicine. One that needs to be attended to holistically as well. And because that's just the makeup of my body. And so my body doesn't respond well to some I'll call one on myself. I was dealing with some anxiety and depression after COVID and after the shutdown. And like many people, we went into seclusion. I had also just come out of a very, very tumultuous. We insane separation and divorce and so went right into lockdown and then a year of that. So I didn't have a chance to really deal with the anxiety and the depression that I had until much later, like 2021, 2022. And you know, first question was, well, let's put you on XYZ drug. Let's put you on XYZ anti anxiety medication. And I'm not kidding, Jay, when I tell you they tried six medications and none of them worked. Wow. My body just did not respond to all of these meds. Medications. So I went to seek out secondary advice and said, before you put me on something even stronger, let me just have a conversation with my naturopath. And. Had a conversation with a naturopath. He recommended something. Hey, let's give it a shot. Let's give it a try. That coupled with a breathwork session, multiple breathwork sessions, meditation and all that has completely changed my anxiety and my depression. And it's not that it's not still there. I always tell people it's still there, but I now have the tools necessary. Now I also will caveat this say, if you have physical symptoms that you feel need the attention of a doctor, see the doctor. I thought I was dealing with some anxiety earlier this year. Ended up I was in AFib. So I encourage people to be present and to be aware. So seek the doctor's advice and attention. I'm glad that I did because I was able to get that handled with a procedure. But for the most part, the anxiety and that, which is very different sensation and feeling for me than that palpitation can be addressed by these holistic approaches. And so for me, I was able to find something, but that doesn't mean that it goes away. There are days that I have a difficult time getting up and getting going and out of bed in the morning. And so for me, that breath work and that meditation and that yoga, the stretching, the activity of it all has been critical for my, mental health. And so I'm sure you see that significantly with your, with your clients as well. Even if they don't know that's going to be the benefit if they continue and they stay active and it works for them, the effects. are not always one in one session. Sometimes they're in multiple, but over the course of time, they will see drastic shifts and changes. I know I've seen it firsthand with friends, myself included. So I'm, I'm glad that there are people out in this world like you who do this. Yeah, and who do it with such a passion? You're currently out in the Coachella Valley, right? Yeah, and so you obviously have quite a presence on social media You're also a teacher and you coach so you have a little bit broader exposure than than some. Talk a little bit more, if you will, you teach certification for breathwork which is something that I find really fascinating. And then we're going to talk a little bit as well about the chakras, because that's something that I don't think a lot of people are exposed to, but it's a big part of this healing process that goes great with breathwork. Yeah, for sure. And I just want to address what you said around regular practice. People come to a breathwork session or class blown away, right? Oh, I'm going to see you every week or never see them again. Like, yes, it helps. Yes. It per I will say it permanently changes and shifts your energy full body goosebumps on that one. You got to keep doing things. There's no time in this life anyway, that we, we can stop. We need some consistent practice in order to stay in that zone. So thank you for saying that. And so important. And me as a teacher and healer, I got to walk the walk. If I'm not laying down to breathe at least once or twice a week, then I'm not going to be at my best and I'm going to be faking it, which I do. So, yeah, because trust me, I'll also fall into old patterns, you know, and Lay down and breathe Jay. So, yeah, good reminder. The teacher training came to me, really, people started to ask me. I combined this sort of breath work with Ho'oponopono, which is a beautiful Hawaiian forgiveness practice, and I would teach this class regularly in Hollywood, and, yeah, people started to approach me like, I want to learn from you. Can you teach me how to do this? I could see myself doing this. And so, that was years ago, and I just, I very quickly, kind of created this, this certification around it. A lot of things I didn't learn from my teachers. I'm like, let's add that in because there's a lot I didn't get. And then, yeah, and just knowing, really teaching from the heart, knowing what I needed. And that's kind of how I created this class. And now it's, it's been interesting, especially with zoom, having a lot of students all over the world, especially in the UK and in Europe. And so I do this. I do an introduction and an advanced training with breath work both online and in person, depending on the schedule. And it's been, I think that's one of my biggest joys is working with other therapists, coaches, and healers because we get each other. You know, and those, those people come are often ready to go deep. They've tried other things and it hasn't worked and they're really ready to dig in. And I, what I love most is supporting people to use their unique gifts and talents. Like, like you said, so many modalities out there. So let's bring breath work in and combine it with sound or hypnosis or your Reiki or human design. Like you can actually create your own modality bringing in breath work. So yeah, it's been a joy. It really is do you think that we're all born with these abilities to heal or do you feel that that's something that is specific to the person? Heal ourselves or to help heal others? Both. Yeah. Oh, I think we're all able to heal ourselves. Yeah, well, I'm just thinking about people even in my family who have no interest in the spiritual emotional work, you know, but they're also super happy and life works, you know, they don't, for whatever reason, their soul hasn't called them to some of the heavier stuff, I guess I could say. So I think the answer I would say is no. You know, I think we all have the ability, but honestly, it's our pain and our struggles that make us a better healer and teacher, right? So those people who haven't really struggled and suffered, maybe it can be hard to relate and have empathy for those other people struggling. I know people firsthand who are kind of like, just step out of it. You know, why are they struggling so much? It's like, life's not that hard. Really easy for them to say. But when you have all this other stuff going on, so yeah, I would say we're called to it. If we've had enough pain and struggling, we're like, I want to help others through this. Maybe speed up their process. That was my goal. What if I could speed up people's process instead of taking decades? What if they could get it done in just a few years? Right. Well, and I also think it's something that the individual has to be open to as well. You know, the healing process is something that is, you know, And you have to be ready and some are ready early and some aren't. I have somebody in my mind right now, unfortunately, who passed away, who never healed and I'm so sad for him. It was my dad. And he just lived a lifetime of pain and trauma and upset and never really dealt and released. And we, it was so smart, PhD in psychology, right? And never healed himself. And I It was always so sad for him as I have been for a few other people, but I think we are our best healers I feel like we're all here on this earth to be of service, whether that service means to offer a kind ear or to offer something like you do with your sound healing. Yeah. And I think I think healing can be looked at in different ways, right? We can, you know, be a great salesperson and we're connecting with people and that's very healing, making people feel good. So there's different forms, but in particular, yeah, this form of healing I think the healing's never done. I think we should be clear on that too, right? Because yes, you'll never, never, never. I believe we take it in the next lifetime. That's why I was so kind of taking it with my dad. I just, I want him to find some peace and solace hopefully soon. I think I always say, you know, if we could feel, this is just my easy description. If we could feel good. Most of the time or 80 percent of the time. I think we've done a good job. Yes. Right. Listen, light life is life and it's going to throw you circumstances. Like you said it earlier, you know, you weren't your circumstances growing up. So you were able to see past that. And I really believe that we're not our circumstances and they don't define us. They may push us in certain directions for our journey, but they don't define us. So. Take that step now if you can just for our remaining time together maybe give the cliff notes version of chakras, if you don't mind, yeah chakras I love it chakras are basically disks spinning disks of energy in our body. I'm super practical when it comes to chakras actually we I we deal with seven main chakras Which actually I can show you the colors and visuals. These are the chakra bombs for those watching we have we have the root which is the base chakra, it's red we can talk more about them. Yes. They call chakra the solar plexus, the heart, the throat, the third eye, and the crown. And what's so beautiful about these is they're, they're energy points that when open and aligned, they spin clockwise. Things flow. Our life seems to work. We don't have a lot of, you know, physical discomfort when they get blocked or muffled or stuck based from stress or from even diet or environmental or thought process. We start to feel, we may start to feel discomfort in our body in those particular areas. And this is. Wonderful. Again, our body talks to us. And so if we can get in, figure out what emote, usually it's an emotion that's stuck in those, those chakras that kind of prevented from flowing. And eventually I truly believe that this can lead to illness and, you know, dis ease in our body. So the earlier we can kind of tune in and listen the better. And each chakra has a different color, but also represents different aspects of our life. So when I go in with clients with breathwork in particular, I love to do somatic sort of energy release work. We, we converse with, with that emotion. We, we first of all, listen to where we're being drawn. And again, clients will feel resistance or attention or restriction in certain parts. And then we can go in and what is this, right? How long have you been with, with this person? What emotion are you holding? What's your job? And then we can kind of converse and then clear some of this energy and get those. Chakra spinning again. It's fascinating. It sounds woo woo in a way, but it's also super practical because everything is energy, quantum physics, everything. Why is our body any different? We, we hold trauma. We hold memories and we hold stuck emotion. Let's use a heart, you know, divorce, right? Largely heart. We just close up and we hold pain and sometimes depression and grief. So when we can breathe in tune in, just acknowledging most of the time is enough, just acknowledging, Oh, this is here. It's from this and this and this, or it was passed on from my mother. Just that alone can help to release and heal. It's acknowledging. It's acknowledging. Yeah. Yeah. Awareness. Awareness. Awareness. Feel it to heal it is my favorite saying. Oh, I like that. Feel it to heal it. I like that. Yeah. And where energy goes where attention flows. Sorry, where, yeah. So when we, when we pay attention to that certain body part or that energy energy flows and starts to release and balance. Yeah. I'm grinning this kind of sheepish grin while you're sharing this because after the divorce was final, I moved to San Diego and it's just a rough year. And I remember going to have, a session with a practitioner that I use and she uses a particular modality to obviously, as you mentioned, Chuck, which way that your energy spinning, but it was so funny, I laid it on the table and she went to test it. And not only was it. Not spinning in the clockwise direction, it was hurling counterclockwise, counterclockwise. And I saw it with my own eyes. And she said, we have some work to do over the next hour. And I'm telling you, again, just one of those experiences where the, the unexpected pain that that separation and divorce caused was palpable at best, but at worst was traumatizing and I didn't realize just the effect of that one session would be and I typically will go in and adjust, periodically just to kind of give myself a quote, tune up if you will. But that particular session, like your one session, I walked out of there, Feeling like the weight of the world had been lifted off my shoulders and realized and what it did was, and I want the listeners to understand and I think this is hopefully the key takeaway with everyone that it makes you acutely aware of the sensations in your body, of what your body is telling you because your body is going to tell you everything you need to know. I love that. That is absolutely true. I think we, we think we're fine most of the time, or we're like, okay, I'm a little stressed. We lay down and breathe, for example, and we're like, wow. I think the biggest thing I hear from people with breath work is that was unexpected. So yes, breath brings us awareness. I went swimming in a cenote in Pueblo, Mexico. And the thoughts that were going through my head as I was in there just meditating was, it's a wonder we can all function in the morning when we get up, there's so much hurling at us. Every single day from the news to our families to our relationships to our work to the economy to the election everything and it's amazing we can even function with the amount of information and the amount of energy that's coming at us. And I hope the takeaway for people again, is that why this is so important is because we are Coming to a place in our world for me personally This is just how i'm looking at it That at the end of our life All of our friends all of our family all of our possessions all the experiences that we have our gifts In all aspects, but what we have to answer to is ourselves at the very end. And I really want to make sure that I live this life of happiness and joy and a sense of presence, not saying that life won't be dealt circumstances, not saying that we're not going to have to deal with difficulties, but these practices that are out there are designed to help us push through. And push past and, and, and sometimes not quickly, like you said, it could take time, but the chakras are really important to pay attention to. And even if somebody isn't necessarily maybe up right now for running out and getting their chakras aligned, as we've just described, I asked them to get educated. Go to your site, watch the video, watch the training, watch the course that you offer. Go get some information, just go sit in on a class. You know, even if you're not that into it, I went to a yoga class a while ago, a different type of yoga that I've never done before. And I just wanted to observe. I wanted to take time to really understand it and said to the, to the teacher, I said, I may not go through all the movements. but I would love to just watch, even just watching the process and watching the people go through the moves and to go through the poses and to watch them from when they went in to when they came out was. Incredibly transformative as well. And I'm sure you see that you're obviously when you're teaching a class, you're not only protecting yourself from all the energy that's hurling around that room, you are probably also, you know, needing to watch your clients that are taking your class, because everyone's going to go through a different experience. So I'm really in awe of the practitioners like yourself that, that do this because you do carry a huge weight. And you're caring for these people that are there to heal and to learn and to transition. And so a huge kudos to you for that. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I really pride myself in, in trying to speak with everybody if I do, if it is a group breathwork, you know, I realized every single person is in a different place. How can I possibly guide? Well, it's through our words, right? And through just trying to think about all of the different experiences and incorporating everyone, because some people may not feel anything at all. And I got to say that during breathwork, it's okay. Right. FOMO everyone has FOMO. Why is that person having a great experience? So just telling that person it's okay. You're exactly right. And it doesn't mean that they're not going to feel something later in the future. I've seen that many times, three or four. Wow. My mom, prime example. She's like, I didn't get that. I don't understand it. Three days later, she's like, Oh, I feel different. Why is that? I'm like, it's the class you just took three days ago. And that's transitioned. So I see it quite a bit happening later. So I don't want people to feel. you know, unsuccessful if they take a class or take a session and don't necessarily notice anything. Just do it, try it. You'll never know unless you try it. For sure. I think the biggest thing we can say is breath, breath work in particular takes you out of your head, into your heart, heart chakra. We spend too much time in our heads. It's it's maybe a good place for like being logical and organized, whatever, but mostly it's not a good place. It's a crazy place. I've said that in my premier episode, I said that my head, my head can be a very dangerous place. Oh, it's awful. I spent way too much time there. And this is why we need at least people like us type a, whatever. Breath work. Cause it reminds us, okay, back to the heart, back to the heart. So I could talk to you all day. I think we could spend a lot of time chatting. I'm just kind of enamored at the moment with this conversation and so grateful. So I have a request and then two final questions for you. As we wrap this up the request is, will you come back again and maybe some other time and talk a little bit more in depth about chakras and about the chakra bombs and kind of what they do and the benefits that they offer? I think that's a really cool and important conversation to have. I think it's its episode in and of itself. So would you come back at some point and, and, yeah, this is like talking with a great friend over coffee. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. So I appreciate it. I look forward to it. So my last two questions, question number one is where do you see yourself in the next five years? What do you see yourself doing? Wow. That's such a great question. I have been contemplating perhaps having other teachers, share almost, almost like an organization where some of my students can go out and teach, you know, and, and get the message out or, or at least collaborating with certain students in different parts of the world and branching out on this teaching and certifying breathwork. I do see another book for sure. And that just the clarity hasn't quite dropped in, but I, I, I love to write. So definitely another book launch and. I love being on camera. You know, I just something around sharing this message on camera. I don't know what that is. Maybe being just a guest expert or, or having a, some sort of inspiring reality show. That's always been on the radar for me. So there's a few things. Anyway. Okay. I'm going to shift you to talk show, not reality, please. Please. There aren't enough hours. Inspiring reality show. Inspiring reality. Okay. I stand corrected. Jay. I stand corrected. Inspiring reality. It needs a whole new channel. Cause I don't see any channels for that right now. Exactly. Just a little early. Give it some time. We'll give it some time. Oh, listen, as I was sharing with you before we jumped on, I mean, this wellness, I think people have sometimes seen it as a fad. It is not, it is going to be paramount, paramount. So I can't wait and, and I can't wait to see that success for you. So we're going to go ahead and put You're the link to your website and your book and some of your content on our social media page. And I encourage people to go check out your work. If you're out in the Coachella Valley, go to a class. If you're not, you're online, sign up for class, do it. You'll absolutely love Jay. And I, again, thank you for your time today. I'm going to ask you one final question. And that is what I ask all of my guests. If you could go back To that young elementary school J who was faced with the bullying and faced with that fear, what would you tell him about his life today? I would tell little J that not to allow other people to take your power away, that you are so powerful and so beautiful and so strong, and you have a great future and you're hypersensitive, which is a gift. And the sensitivity Yeah, the sensitivity is what has allowed you to let people take that energy. So just that awareness as a, as a young kid growing up, I think would have been life changing for me, right? Knowing that out, wow, I can keep my power, not giving it away. And probably a little bit about the solar plexus, the self worth chakras. Hey, little Jay, breathe in, energize. All right. Kindergartner Jay, breathe in, breathe in, baby. Yeah. Yeah. Good question. Yeah. You know, the last thing I'll say about that, which is interesting is we talked about this a couple of episodes ago. So many of us were bullied and challenged from a very young age. And someone said to me that. You know, they never felt like they would be like that person that bullied them. And I brought the question up and said, we don't know what that person's life was like. That was the bully. We have no idea what their home life was like, what they're, what they were dealing with, the insecurities that they were dealing with inside. And so I used to fault them and blame them for what they did to me and to kids like you and to others. But now I have some empathy for them because I also realized that they were struggling too. And it came out at a reunion. at one of our high school reunions and an apology from one of them and said, I didn't realize what I was doing to you until I watched my own child go through it. And I apologize for what I did. And I had some funny quip that I quipped back with, but that was a really beautiful moment because I realized in that moment that even though that was the worst time of my life, being bullied and being afraid to know that they felt the same. And they would have definitely benefited from that solar plexus conversation as well. School might've been a little different. Oh, glad you had that healing opportunity. Oh yeah. And it was great. And again, my little funny quip was probably not as taken as well as it could have been. But in jest, I was being a little bit serious as well. But I did, I had that opportunity to heal. And, and even looking at the reunion as a whole other episode, but looking at the reunion and having a chance to reconnect with these people so many years later you know, we just realized we were all just afraid. We were all just fearful. We all had our own, you know, What we called earlier stuff to deal with, but I am going to live for a day where Jay Bradley, teaching in classrooms around the country, this great work. So again, thank you for being here. Thank you for spending time with us. I really appreciate you. And I'm really grateful that you're out in the world doing what you're doing. Thank you, Eric. I think you're amazing too. And thank you for having me on anytime. You're always welcome. Take care. Okay. Bye. All right, everyone. Thank you again for joining us on today's episode. I hope our conversation resonated with you like it did me, and I cannot wait to sit down with you all again next week. Remember to subscribe to the Just You Podcast on your favorite platform so you can make sure not to miss a new episode, which drop every Thursday. If you like what you hear, you can easily share the podcast and episode Directly with your friends. And if you would rate us and leave us a review, we'd love to hear from you. You can also follow us on Instagram at just do you pod. As you go out into the world today, remember to just do you. All right. Talk next week.