Bearcloud: Painting Earth Visions

Born on a reservation in Oklahoma, Bearcloud was surrounded by his ancestral culture every day. It wasn’t until the age of 7 that he moved to a suburban area of Amarillo, Texas, and experienced some real culture shock.

His creative outlet was painting and drawing, and he never stopped pursuing this passion. Bearcloud notes that he was always drawn to the beautiful raw nature of Sedona, even before he had ever been to visit. And as luck or fate would have it, he would later move there to open his gallery, showcasing his original works of art.

Bearcloud and Andy discuss how the Indian culture and ceremonies of his childhood influence and inspire him to create the paintings that are so profound. From the beat of the drums to the visions he sees during meditations and vision quests, Bearcloud’s talent is truly a gift to all who see his work. In this podcast, you’ll hear fascinating stories about how Bearcloud once refused to sell a painting for $50,000, how he keeps himself humbled, and what his paintings truly reveal to those who view them. You can listen to the full interview here.

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Yogi Blair Darby: Vortex Yoga Hiking

Yogi Blair Darby is not your typical yoga enthusiast. Though well practiced in a variety of yoga methods, both in modern and traditional practices, his success lies in his ability to help others see Sedona, Arizona through a whole new lens.

After spending his entire life in the beach town of Venice, California, Blair, his girlfriend, and son packed up and moved to the beautiful red rock adorned area of Sedona, where his passion for energies and yoga would reach new and unexpected heights. His love for yoga was ignited in the late eighties, when he met “the most amazing yoga teacher” he’d ever known. He was eclectic, passionate, and brought a charismatic multi-modality experience to all of his students. As Yogi Blair puts it, he could take you there.

After the move to Sedona, Yogi thought he would have enough in savings and investments to allow him a year to explore and enjoy the area before returning to work. But with the financial crisis of 2009 looming, he decided he needed to start working much sooner than he anticipated. While he still enjoyed yoga, he wanted to take it to a different place and incorporate new practices and teachings, including hiking, integrating color and sound therapy, and utilizing crystal photonic light therapy’s beneficial healing properties.

Yogi Blair has become a true traveler’s must-do activity in Sedona. Most of his clientele are out-of-towners looking to get more in touch with nature, themselves, and the mysterious energies that Sedona has to offer. He attributes his success to word of mouth, his meticulous attention to detail in his tours, and a great web presence on Yelp and Tripadvisor.

During his interview with Andy, the two take a hike together and practice some yoga and breathing exercises, where Andy expresses feeling and seeing everything with a noticeable new clarity. Yogi Blair helped him be in the moment and allowed him to experience heightened feelings, even something as simple as the wind blowing by. Yogi Blair’s dedication to the craft of connecting with the earth, healing within nature, and experiencing Sedona’s many energies is ever apparent to all who tour with him.

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Lily Wong: Digital Nomad, Podcaster, Professional Tourist

In this episode Andy talks with Lily Wong, the creator of an extraordinarily popular Mandarin podcast that’s been downloaded over 20 million times in less than 3 years!

Lily is many things—a non-profit entrepreneur, an instructor of English teachers in Taiwan, a public speaker, and a philanthropist. She’s living her dream of using her experience and knowledge, through her Fly With Lily podcast, to help people become the best version of themselves, and live their own dreams.

How did an introverted and relatively sheltered girl from Taiwan overcome many obstacles—two of them instantly life-changing—to become a world-traveling entrepreneur and podcasting media mogul? Listen to this episode to find out!

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Kai Lenny: Ocean Sports World Champion

Kai Lenny is a 24-year-old superstar in nearly every water sport you could name. He’s a seven-time stand-up paddle-boarding (SUP) world champion, two-time kitesurfing world champion, and a multi-award-winning big wave surfer, tow-in surfer, windsurfer, and hydrofoiler. As Kai and Andy talk at length today, you’ll learn more than the mere distinctions between each water sport, but the mental challenges and style integral to a world champion’s success.

Growing up in Maui, Hawaii, with parents who shared his adoration for both the water and athleticism, Kai and his younger brother found themselves at the beach as often as possible. Kai’s lifelong obsession with the ocean has come to the point where, no matter where he travels in the world, he finds a way to surf in some fashion—even if that means finding rapids to ride in Montana.

As Kai’s technical skills came to match his passion, he’s practiced the “silent art” of separating himself from a crowd and bringing his individual take to the water. With critical surfing mentors like Kelly Slater and Robby Naish playing a significant role in his life, Kai has learned to thrive on pressure and find a level-headed calm in even the most thrilling moments of his career.

In his conversation with Andy today, Kai reveals why each water sport he pursues is far more of a lifestyle and purpose-driven endeavor than it is a traditional sport, and the reasons why he could never train and perform at his expert level without his avid team of sponsors, supporters, mentors and family members alongside him.

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Bashiri Johnson: Celebrity Percussionist, Producer, Educator

To play this episode, please visit it on The Music Makers Podcast!

Today, Andy talks with the brilliant musician most widely known by chart-topping artists themselves: Bashiri Johnson. Bashiri has recorded and/or performed with artistic legends including Beyonce, Madonna, Whitney Houston, the Rolling Stones, Michael Bolton, Cher, Duran Duran, Eric Clapton, James Taylor, Barry Manilow, and Michael Jackson.

Growing up in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, NY in the 1960s and 70s, Bashiri was a talented risk-taker, self-described as “always in motion, never still.” Since he first started formally playing percussion—as opposed to jamming out on chairs and desks—in his freshman year of high school, Bashiri has played everywhere he could. In fact, Bashiri was so driven to perform, he even snuck backstage at a Miles Davis concert to see Mtume—then asked for percussion lessons. As luck had it, Mtume agreed to hang out with Bashiri, which led to a three year mentorship that served to launch the rest of Bashiri’s nonstop creative lifestyle for decades to come.

Not only does Bashiri explore his near-meditative approach to his “first listens,” but he describes some of his favorite memories at length, including adding a twist while recording “Never Too Much” by Luther Vandroff, recording on a Miles Davis song, performing live with Aretha Franklin at Radio City Music Hall, and working alongside the iconic artist, Michael Jackson. In his characteristic candor, Bashiri reveals the key personality traits that drove him to share what he loves most with the world.

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