Wellness + Wisdom | Episode 606
How can you use your fear to prepare for unpredictable situations?
Akshay Nanavati, Adventurer and USMC Vet, joins Josh Trent on the Wellness + Wisdom Podcast, episode 606, to share how he uses fear to prepare for extreme conditions in nature, what lessons he learned about life during Polar expeditions, why it's important to love your fear, and why you need to confront your darkness.
“If you really want to know the heights of awe, the heights of bliss, go play in the depths of the abyss. Go play in the pain cave, go there, because it'll amplify the intensity of the human experience. It's how you feel more awe.” – Akshay Nanavati
Donate to The Great Soul Crossing
THE FIRST-EVER SOLO COAST-TO-COAST SKI CROSSING OF ANTARCTICA
In November 2024, Akshay will set foot in Antarctica to begin a 1,700-mile journey where he will drag a 400-pound sled filled with all his supplies needed to survive in one of the most unforgiving environments on the planet.
For 110 days, he will endure temperatures below -40 degrees, and hurricane-force winds as he makes his way across the coldest, driest, and windiest continent on Earth.
With your donation to support this monumental journey, you can have your name recorded permanently in history, and get access to his incredible mindset techniques, community, and more…
(There is no monetary profit for Akshay in this fundraising.)
In This Episode, Akshay Nanavati Uncovers:
[01:30] The Gift of Suffering
- Akshay Nanavati
- How he learned that suffering is a gift when he joined the Marines.
- What you can learn from nature.
- Why Polar travel is the most difficult outdoor activity.
- The selfless and selfish reasons that motivated him to cross Antarctica.
- What enlightenment is according to Akshay.
[11:05] Fear Propels You to Prepare
- FEARVANA: The Revolutionary Science of How to Turn Fear into Health, Wealth and Happiness by Akshay Nanavati
- How you can use your fear to prepare.
- Why labeling fear as rational or irrational is assigning judgment.
- What scares Akshay more than Polar expeditions.
- The power of negative visualization.
[13:30] Emotions + Duality
- To feel fear is to be human.
- Why emotions are neither good nor bad, they're just emotions.
- How feeling guilt was an expression of love when Akshay's friend died in a war.
- What the real cause of suffering is.
- How you can use your emotions as fuel.
[21:15] Fear of Vulnerability
- How Akshay met his girlfriend and took her on a hike for their first date.
- Dave Asprey
- Why he was more scared of an intimate connection with a woman than of death.
- Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
- Akshay's struggles with drugs.
- The only way out is through.
- How sharing your feelings can open up a space for authenticity and vulnerability.
[30:25] The Power of Pain
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- 410 Mark Divine | Positive Neurodiversity: Kokoro Spirit, The 5 Mountains For Inner Peace, & How To Fulfill Your Potential
- Courage and curiosity are essential for growth.
- How experiencing pain amplifies the experience of pleasure.
- The positive effects of darkness retreat.
- Why Akshay feels grateful for all his pain and suffering.
[35:20] The Darkness + The Light
- The health problems Akshay has been struggling most of his life.
- Black Hawk Down
- How a movie inspired him to join the Marines.
- Braveheart
- Gratitude is a superpower.
- How he used the depths of his darkness and the gift of his light as weapons to drive him forward.
[44:05] Learn to Love Your Fear
- How fear keeps us alive.
- Why it's normal to feel fear when you do something new.
- Why courage is the most important of all virtues.
- 411 Gay Hendricks | The Genius Zone: The Breakthrough Process to End Negative Thinking and Live in True Creativity
- Finding Joe
- How labeling your emotions can help you create space between you and the emotion.
- Why acceptance is key to transformation.
- How identifying the constructs that shape your reality can help you free yourself from the constructs that don't serve you.
[53:20] Letting Darkness Open Your Eyes
- What encouraged Akshay to get into athletics.
- How children are programmed to not feel their feelings.
- The problem with immediate gratification.
- 565 Pavel Stuchlik | Connecting Back With Spirit: Dark Retreats, Iboga + EMF Detox (Your Guide To Self-Transformation)
- Why divorce made him break his sobriety and brought him to dark retreats.
- What darkness showed and taught Akshay.
- The Green Mile
[01:06:30] Pain Is A Part of The Process
- Why Josh prefers to say “responsibility” instead of “debt.”
- How most people live a life full of quiet desperation.
- Happiness is not the elimination of sadness.
- Why falling and pain are a natural part of life.
- How Josh reparents himself through being a parent.
[01:13:00] PTSD Growth
- Akshay Nanavati on The Dr. Drew Podcast
- How Akshay struggled with PTSD and what helped him heal.
- The principles of post-traumatic growth.
- Akshay Nanavati: Find strength in fear
[01:17:50] Shadow Work: Confront The Darkness
- Why fitness or yoga are often more about the ego than health.
- What Akshay did to face his demons.
- Entrepreneurs avoid looking within by keeping themselves extremely busy.
- 589 Alex Charfen | The Freedom Life: How To Program Yourself For Success In Mind, Body, Spirit + Soul
- The importance of confronting the dark side of power.
- 201 Finding Mastery: Micheal Gervais
[01:24:15] Trust Your Inner Voice
- How Josh moved to Hawaii and started healing his feminine.
- Why Akshay writes down everything mystical that has happened in his life.
- Learning to trust your inner voice.
- How physical training helps Akshay access stillness.
- Unpacking how he's preparing for the Polar trip.
[01:32:45] The Hero's Journey
- Support Akshay's journey
- Why he was driven by escapism.
- The Hero's Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work by Joseph Campbell
- Why he started studying method acting to understand how to character.
- 555 Mike Dillard | Richer Every Day: How To WIN The War on Your Money + Mind
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Power Quotes From The Show
It's OK to Feel Scared
“When you do something you've never done before, you will feel scared. That's why I don't like the idea of always being confident to take action. How can you be confident if you've never done the thing before? Confidence is the result of action, not the fuel of action.” – Akshay Nanavati
No Emotion Is Either Good or Bad
“There's no bad emotions, there's no good emotions, there's only emotions. It's the label of bad, the assignment of the judgment of the emotion that causes more problems than the emotion itself. The second you accept the “isness” of the emotion and become aware of it without deeming it bad, then you can use any emotion as fuel to drive you into something better.” – Akshay Nanavati
The Power of Nature
“Nature makes you realize how small you are, but at the same time, you feel all powerful out there because simply by stepping in that playground to control your reality, to be there, to survive, to thrive out there, you feel more powerful than you've ever felt. It's an experience of both control and surrender, and ego and humility” – Akshay Nanavati
Links From Today's Show
- Akshay Nanavati
- FEARVANA: The Revolutionary Science of How to Turn Fear into Health, Wealth and Happiness by Akshay Nanavati
- Dave Asprey
- Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
- BREATHE: Breath & Wellness Program – 33% off with code “PODCAST33”
- 410 Mark Divine | Positive Neurodiversity: Kokoro Spirit, The 5 Mountains For Inner Peace, & How To Fulfill Your Potential
- Black Hawk Down
- Braveheart
- 411 Gay Hendricks | The Genius Zone: The Breakthrough Process to End Negative Thinking and Live in True Creativity
- Finding Joe
- 565 Pavel Stuchlik | Connecting Back With Spirit: Dark Retreats, Iboga + EMF Detox (Your Guide To Self-Transformation)
- The Green Mile
- Akshay Nanavati on The Dr. Drew Podcast
- Akshay Nanavati: Find strength in fear
- 589 Alex Charfen | The Freedom Life: How To Program Yourself For Success In Mind, Body, Spirit + Soul
- 201 Finding Mastery: Micheal Gervais
- Support Akshay's journey
- The Hero's Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work by Joseph Campbell
- 555 Mike Dillard | Richer Every Day: How To WIN The War on Your Money + Mind
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About Akshay Nanavati
Akshay Nanavati has overcome drug addiction, PTSD from fighting in Iraq with the Marines (where one of his jobs was to walk in front of vehicles to find bombs), depression, and alcoholism that pushed him to the brink of suicide.
Since then, by embracing his demons, he has built a global business, run many ultramarathons including a 24-hour run and 167-mile run across Liberia to help build a school, spent 10 days in darkness and isolation, skied 350 miles across the world’s 2nd largest icecap for a month and become 1 of only 26 people to ski up a remote glacier in Antarctica.
Despite 4 biological defects including a blood disorder that 2 doctors told him would kill him in boot camp, he is now a sponsored athlete and is currently training for a 110-day, 1700-mile, solo, never-before-accomplished crossing of Antarctica.
Combining his life experience with years of research in science and spirituality, he wrote the book “Fearvana,” about which the Dalai Lama said, “Fearvana inspires us to look beyond our own agonizing experiences and find the positive side of our lives.” All the profits from the book are going toward charity.
Akshay is now on a mission to help our human family fall in love with suffering in order to create a life of greater meaning, purpose, joy, and fulfillment.
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Akshay Nanavati: Find strength in fear
