The Joel Evan Show

In this week, I interview the amazing Kim Nicol who is known in San Francisco for bringing meditation and mindfulness to fast-growing tech start-ups, hacker houses, attorneys, and Fortune 500 executives. A former lawyer, Kim’s practical approach and calming presence have made her a favorite among analytical thinkers. I first met Kim almost five years when she invited a group of us to a meditation session. Kim was probably one of the first people to introduce meditation and mindfulness to me. I remember after the session feeling so powerful, expansive, and clear-headed. Kim explained to the group the science and benefits of mindfulness training, and then left the group with a profound question: “if you all feel this amazing right now and you understand all the benefits from mindfulness training, then why aren’t you doing it everyday?”I heard her say this and I myself couldn’t answer the question. My answer or excuse was, “I don’t have time,” or “I don’t want to make the time.” And the truth of the matter, was sitting in silence and being “mindful” was difficult for me. I remember hearing Russel Simmons, the CEO of Def Jam records at one time, say that if you can’t sit and practice mindfulness training for 20 minutes, then you should be doing it for two hours.

Sue Baelan is the originator of “The Sacred Body Midwifery” in San Francisco, CA and has been practicing midwifery for over 15 years. I met Sue almost three years ago when she was the midwife for our second son. After having Sue there for our second birth, I wish I had met her years prior and had her there for our first son’s birth. Our first son was born in a hospital, whereas our second son was born in our house. The experience was starkly different and I learned a lot. I wanted to bring Sue on to help educate others about birthing and how many misconceptions are out there.There’s many people out there who probably think you absolutely have to have a child in the hospital, or that’s its safer in a hospital. Sue is going to explain all of this. Sue talks about the history of midwifery, prenatal care, and postpartum care, birthing positions, and much more. As a person who has had the ability to compare both a hospital birth and a home birth, I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt, I wish I had done a home birth.

Kelly O'Keefe is a laser technician at a doctor's office in Santa Monica, CA who uses a high powered laser to treat people with chronic pain such as frozen shoulder, sciatica, and even fractured bones, . One of the most fascinating things Kelly does with the laser is placing it on people 's brains. Patients have seen a decrease or elimination of brain fog, anxiety, PTSD, , TBI, nightmares, sleeplessness. Check out my website www.joelevancoaching.com for more info.

This week’s episode, I had the great pleasure of interviewing self-defense expert Grandmaster David Amiccuci. David has a wealth of experience and has been training in martial arts since the fourth grade when he started wrestling. David has been training in martial arts for over 40 years and was a correctional officer for 29 years, where he was the Team Leader for their tactical team for the majority of his career. I was blessed to have trained with Grand Master Amiccuci for eight years and received my black belt.The older I’ve become and the more I’ve grown, I’ve realized how impactful martial arts was on me. It strengthened my mind, molded me to have a warrior spirt and a never quit attitude. Martial artist and self defense expert Tony Blauer has a great article called “The Economics of Violence,” which basically states you can’t afford to get attacked. What will it cost you to be attacked? The emotional, psychological trauma. Self defense is an absolute necessity in my opinion. The ability to protect your family and loved ones should be taught to everyone, and I feel grateful to have been influenced by Grand Master Amiccuci.David is a 9th degree black belt in Kajukenbo. Kajukenbo was founded in 1947 and some credit it as the first MMA. Kajukenbo is a hybrid martial art that phonetically breaks down as Ka (Karate) Ju (Judo/Jiu-Jitsu) Ken (Kenpo) Bo (Chinese Boxing/Gung-Fu). The originators of Kajukenbo wanted to create a martial art that had the best of all these martial arts. They wanted something that was street effective especially on the dangerous streets of Hawaii. Kajukenbo specializes in neutralizing multiple attackers, disarming people armed with weapons such as clubs, bats, knives, and guns. I can tell you from first hand experience, Kajukenbo works and it is one of the most effective martial arts I have experienced. David specializes in improvised weapons and using his environment as a weapon. David is experienced in unorthodox weapons such as the whip and sjambok. David is especially talented and well versed in knife fighting and knife defense.If you’re someone who wants to learn some basic self defense principles, but don’t want to make it an every day thing, I can’t recommend enough David’s yawara seminar. David modified the class over the years and the class includes a tactical flashlight. It’s one of the best self defense classes I’ve taken and afterwards you’ll learn key principles like body mechanics, awareness, pressure points, throws, and more.Tony Ramos Kajukenbo FacebookEmail: trkprof@me.comTRK Headquarters 1321 Oliver RdFairfield, CA 94533

Angel Orozco is the head coach of Telegraph Crossfit in San Francisco, CA. Angel has been involved in Crossfit since almost its inception and has been training in Crossfit for over 13 years. I first met Angel years ago when he was working at San Francisco Crossift led by head coach Kelly Starrett. Angel later went on to open his own gym which has always had a loyal following. When Angel left San Francisco Crossfit, I followed him and trained at his gym for about a year.Angel has an incredible depth when it comes to fitness and he’s not your typical one dimensional “Crossfit bro” kind of guy. He’s all an around athlete and has seen the trends and fad come and go. He understands what works and what doesn’t. Angel also has an incredible understanding of the human body: mobility, bodywork, and functional movement. We talk about some of the major problems with Crossfit, but why Angel still finds it one of the best training modalities out there. We talk about how Angel has evolved over the years as a coach and how fatherhood has changed him as a coach. Stay tuned to the end, where Angel reveals his number one hack or ritual that he does to keep him grounded. Honestly, his answer floored me and I think you’ll think the same.

Sean O’Keefe is a professor at the University of Santa Clara and has a history of sales positions. Sean has worked for the San Francisco 49er’s, and the Oakland A’s, where he broke several sales records. In his last sales position he tripled revenue and quadrupled profits for Shamrock Office Solutions over seven years with 100% organic growth. Throughout his career, Sean realized the majority of people really don’t know how to get a job. They don’t know the basics, let alone the advanced tactics and strategies. Grateful for his own successes, Sean created Launch Your Career where he has helped thousands of students land the jobs and internships they want. Two-thirds of workers in the US are unhappy with their jobs and the job application process. A key driver of this is applicants "settling" for a position after getting beaten down by the online application process, which has a 3-5% success rate. Launch Your Career is the solution. Sean also created Empowered Students, which shares it's curriculum at no charge to low income and first-generations college students through a 501c3 nonprofit organization called Empowered Students. Sean’s third endeavor is called Superior Outcomes where he assists 2-year and 4-year colleges in their efforts to improve student success rates by providing presentations, keynotes, workshops, and seminars to a variety of audiences: Higher Ed Administrators, Students, Faculty, Career Counselors, and more.

This week’s episode I was lucky enough to interview Dr Pete Goldman, founder of the Zone School Chiropractic. I have been seeing Dr Pete for years since he was first recommended to me by other martial artists and MMA fighters in the Bay Area. I then later met Dr Pete in a jiu-jitsu class and told him about my shoulder that was hurting me for almost a year and was not getting better. Dr Pete told me, “I can help you, just come see me.” I was doubtful as “normal chiropractors” just adjust bones and the spine and neck. And my issue was a muscle or a tendon, not a bone. Nonetheless, I saw Dr Pete and within a week or two my shoulder was back to 80%. That was years ago, and even till this day my shoulder is doing just fine.Dr Pete has an amazing story, and talked about his childhood growing up in Brooklyn in the 1970’s. Dr Pete described Brooklyn as being a very “checkerboard” area, which led him to embarking on a journey into martial arts. Dr Pete is a true martial artist and really understands the history of the arts. Dr Pete’s affinity for martial arts is what makes him popular with fighters today. The best in the world seek out Dr Pete, because they need results, and he delivers. Dr Pete also talks about why most chiropractor schools are a joke today and don’t practice real healing. Dr Pete says:“99% of chiropractors, their patients are in their for neck and back pain, it’s a joke…85% of my patients in my waiting room are here for their liver, their gallbladder, their pancreas, their nervous system, their immune system…” So what’s the big disconnect? Listen to the episode to learn more.Lastly, Dr Pete has created his own online school The Zone Technique where other healers, acupuncturist, chiropractors, etc can learn the same healing principles that have given him great success. Dr Pete also teaches and conducts seminars worldwide.

Faysal Abi has been doing Yoga for over 15 years, and teaching for the last six years. Faysal was also a police officer for over 10 years until he was involved in a career ending injury from a terrible car accident. Faysal faced depression, traumatic brain injury (TBI), and numerous physical injuries. Faysal tells the story of how he overcame these struggles, some of the mental and physical modalities he uses to 10X his life, and an important message to those dealing with depression or trauma.