Embodied Leadership, Human Potential & Costa Rica Awakening with Lindsay Hergott

This is the Beyond the Story podcast, a show that goes way beyond the story. And now, Sebastian Rusk I'm thrilled to have you here. I know that you and I connected not on the actual summit at Seaship, but we connected through the great community there. So grateful for being introduced to that community. I was brand new. I'm brand newbie. First time ever going to any summit thing I totally agree. It was, I think, possibly the best event I've ever been to. And I'm so thrilled to meet you. And every single person I met, literally, on that ship, I was like, oh my gosh, they could be my new best Yeah, nothing like being surrounded by 2,000 awesome humans for four I get goosebumps just now as you're saying it. It was pure magic. And yeah, now the magic continues. It's been so fun, too, to now catch up Yeah, somebody put in the group chat, I feel like I just went through a breakup with I, uh, I unfortunately caught a cold the last day. So, uh, I was, I had an early night Saturday night, which is frowned upon on the last night of summit at sea. I guess everyone stays up all night. I don't know the last time I've stayed up all night on purpose. Um, but, um, yeah, I got a little bit of a cold, so I was off the ship quite early and, uh, came home and went right to bed, but at least it was the last time. At least it was the last day and I never get sick either, but thank God it was the last day and good times. I'm looking forward to whatever's next for me with Summit. So I love telling people's story on this podcast and yours is no, well, it is very much different than the other stories that we tell. this conversation is no different than past ones. And I always like to go back for some context purposes for our listeners to the beginning of the story. So the beginning is different for everybody. So you define where the beginning is, but bring us back for a little bit, help us better understand how this all Absolutely. I would say probably my biggest and earliest turning point moment, crucible moment, happened when I was on the A-track living that corporate rat race kind of life, checking off all the boxes, doing all the right things. And I had kind of a rude awakening and realized that my soul was dying a slow death. And so I did this radical move. It was over 20 years ago, so it was not trendy. I essentially became a digital nomad about twenty years ago. I left my A-track corporate strategy consulting life, traveled around the world, and really started to dive into studying human behavior at a level that I never had before. Came back to Toronto, which is where I was based, and stumbled into the field of coaching. which at that time was in its infancy, and started to devote my life to human transformation and tapping into the potential that exists in every single human. But along the way, I had a dirty little secret, which was called this little yoga habit that I was doing on the side, which was very freaky and weird at the time. It was like old ladies in unitards in their basements. And then I had this wild gypsy soul that loved to travel and adventure sports. So I was super compartmentalized and had these kind of secret lives and all these different – I was one way in one world and then super corporate in another world, going back into all these organizations in my black suits and doing the corporate work with the coaching and then doing this really spiritual inquiry and diving deeply into these yogic path and all of these things. Fast forward to it was about, at this point, it was about 11 years ago now. I brought all those worlds together, moved my four kids from Toronto down to Costa Rica, and just leapt off another cliff of like, I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'm going to figure it out on the way down. And I brought together all of those worlds of spirituality, adventure travel, and strategy, leadership, human transformational work. And so I started bringing people down to the jungle, from the concrete jungle to the real jungle of Costa Rica, putting them on surfboards, getting them in yoga shallows, flipping them upside down, and using all of these embodied experiences, getting them out in nature with the bugs and with the language barrier and the heat and all the things to really get them out of their comfort zones, crack them wide open, and expose them to the Costa Rican culture. You've been here, we had a quick chat about it before getting on live. And this specific culture, this specific country is beyond magnificent. It's one of the five blue zones on the planet where I live, which is where people are among the longest living on the planet. And it's also one of the happiest countries on the planet. So I'm living here among the happiest, longest living people and bringing foreigners and leaders from around the world down here to really crack them open and get them aligned to their highest path and ultimately into conscious, compassionate leadership. So they go back out into the matrix, bringing some of this Pura Vida with them and spreading the I love that. Yeah, blue zones are amazing. I heard a quote the other day, Joe Rogan was talking about it, so we really don't know if it's fully true, but they were talking about blue zones, and they were talking about whether or not nicotine and cigarettes are really bad for you, and that cigarettes are really popular for people that live in blue zones. And I thought, what is happening right now? What am I listening to? This is not an endorsement to go pick up a pack of smokes, folks, but I just thought that was pretty Well, I mean, I have read the research for over 20 years and it is true that, you know, in a lot of the blue zones, they drink some wine and maybe they smoke cigarettes. I don't know, but I don't think the point is to endorse smoking. I think the point is to say, if you live like a generally good, healthy, mostly connected, which is the takeaway that I really, I think, connected you and I in community and with other people that are supporting each other. And they do say that the loneliness epidemic of not having that human connection is the equivalent of smoking two packs a day in terms of shortening your lifespan. So in that way, it is connected, that in a way, if you're gathering in a community, as we did at Summit, as I get to do every single day of my life here in my town and with the beautiful people that come and go, it actually can offset. in a roundabout, not advocating for people to start smoking, kind of a way that if you do gather with epic humans and connect in a heart-centered way, it will cause you to live a longer and happier life. But yeah, I don't know about the smoking research, but I definitely know that when you connect with epic humans, it makes you live a longer life. And I know that when we connected at Summit, you were really excited, and I'm excited to share all of the story I just talked to you about led me to create what is now, I think, the greatest work of my life, kind of the culmination of my life's work, which is a beautiful book being developed into a TV show called Playa Dorada. And it's this gorgeous fictional series of stories about the interconnected lives of foreigners and locals. in a fictional Costa Rican surf town, deeply inspired by my 20 years of living and being in an actual Costa Rican surf town. And it's really about the beauty and the complexity of life and the interconnected lives of surfers, yogis, cartel, members, you know, expats, and all the beautiful intricacies that happen in a little microcosm of humanity. And it has really potent, inspired by my 24 years of basically listening to people's deepest and darkest secrets for the last 20 years. Yeah. The number of times a day or a week I hear, I've never told anyone this, but, and then they spill the tea. So I got a lot of like, you Do I look trustworthy? Is that what this is? I'm like, I got a trusting face, huh? So I got a lot of tea that's been spilled, you know, so I just was inspired to share as a love letter, as a peace offering, my take on humanity through a pop culture play, you know, using sex and drugs and violence and all addiction and, you know, all the neocolonialism and the tech bros and the dysfunctional conscious communities and poking fun at all of it, but really just with the intention of seeing the beauty in this beautiful chaos called life. And so I've written this book, it's called Playa Dorada, and it's about to be published on Amazon in the next two to three weeks. We got it in its final editing stages. And I'm actually off to Cannes Film Festival literally tomorrow, getting on a plane. to go and promote the TV show. We've got a TV show in development inspired by these beautiful stories of these exquisite characters, all in the sexy setting of Costa Rican surf town. What could Right, right. That is so exciting. I mean, the thing keeps showing up for me is that you are a shining example of doing the thing. being able to step away from the societal constraints that say, this is what you should be doing and go, you know what? I have a different path here and I don't know what that path looks like or how I'm even going to get on that path, but I know it starts in Costa Rica. So we're going to start by heading down there and figure it out as we go. And more often than not, when we do that, Absolutely. My company that I've been working in for the last over 24 years, actually, is called Alive and Awake. And that's the invitation, is to just help people to become fully alive, as sometimes terrifying as it can be, and rich, and scary, and heartbreaking. But the invitation is to crack ourselves fully open, get that full spectrum of life. And then the awake part is to be witnesses of our own journeys, to get the lessons and the blessings at every step along the way. And what I've really had the privilege putting myself as my number one top client and student, is learning to do that, to leap into the unknown, to follow our intuition, to listen to our hearts, to listen to those nudges, those little winks from the universe. And Summit at Sea was a perfect example where I just had this super strong intuition. And just Cannes is another beautiful example. I literally decided to go yesterday, had no plans to go. Three different people say, you should go to Cannes. And I'm like, all right. So yeah, absolutely. And that's my invitation to people is do the thing. And my mantra of life is leaping off the edge of a cliff and being like, I'll figure it out. And just having that sense of play and adventure with life, that there is so much adventure. And if you're not afraid, Really, ultimately, at the end of the day, it's like you're not afraid of your own emotions, of your own failures, of your own... When you can kind of look at heartbreak or failure or shame as exquisite, that's like winning, because then Yeah. What's that quote? When you jump off the cliff, one of two things is going to happen. God's going to catch you, You can adapt that mentality, which essentially sums it up by saying you're going to be good either way, but not taking any chances. I always like to say you're guaranteed. I don't have any specific success rates and numbers on how it's going to work out with you. I just know what's going to work out, but I do guarantee a hundred percent Absolutely. Absolutely. And my kind of litmus test for life is when I'm 90 years old looking back on my life, what will I regret not having done? And for me, that's the greatest marker of success or failure in addition to at any moment in time, can I put my head down on my pillow at night and be okay with the choices that I've made? So am I good with me? Who cares what anyone else thinks about me? is not anyone else's life to live. But if I'm in integrity with myself, then for me, again, that's the marker of success and full permission to be human and be aware of our impact, but really living that authentic, fully alive life and then figuring it out as Yeah. I mean, I think that when it comes to the permission based stuff, I think it's important if you're listening to this right now and you're, you've been conditioned by a world where you need to be given permission by another human being, maybe correct that course right now, because the, the only person that needs to give you permission, you. And once you do that, it, uh, you know, a whole nother world starts to open up from that. And then, and then that's where enrollment starts to come into play too, because now you gave yourself permission to go and do something. And now those around you are starting to shift and do the same exact thing. And you didn't have to do anything except give yourself permission. It's kind of like healing. When you start to unfuck yourself, It is amazing. And I do a lot of work with in my life and with clients to around manifestation is way overused that word, but really literally creating your own reality. And I love that you're talking about giving yourself permission and like anointing yourself as worthy of whatever it is. And I literally, I'm in the process of doing this. I'm like, can film festivals, this thing that is so important. And I had three different people tell me I should go. And all of a sudden I'm like, Well, of course I should go. If not me, then who? Like anyone can go. You just, you show up, you go, you like sign up for meetings with people. I have an amazing project to share, but it's a feeling of worthiness. It's a feeling of deservingness instead of like, who am I to go? Or I'm just this girl from Northern Ontario. And if I could tell you that story my whole life, I don't belong in any room I've ever been in. according to my background. But again, if you walk in feeling like, I see that I'm employed by spirit, by the universe. I'm like, I'm on a mission here to spread love and light on the planet, which gets me over my ego of feeling like, oh, I don't belong or I'm not worthy. I'm like, listen, if the universe wants me, I can. I'm going to show up there, meet the people just like I did at Summit. And there's 100% of life is just the energy that we bring to things. And so when we decide that, you know, when I'm in this mindset that This project is amazing and it's of service, and the more people that read this book and see this TV show, it's going to spread messages of love and light. All of a sudden, it doesn't become about me and my ego and trying to look good. It becomes in service of a larger mission, which can really empower us. I always say, get over yourself. I say it to myself. I'm like, get over yourself. You got stuff to share with the world. And so that's what gives me that incentive to put my own crown on my own head of being worthy of whatever. I figure if we're in a room, it's because we're meant to be there, you know? And just having a higher purpose than just playing the political and power games that humans love to play so much. You know, who's more important, whose job title. It's so fun. I'm now in Hollywood. I'm in the film industry. You can imagine. I've never been in this world. I'm just making it up. But everyone thinks they're either super important or not important enough. And I don't even play that game at all. I see everyone as humans. So I walk in there with this wide open heart and no not a care in the world about what people's job titles are or anything. And that's how I'm transcending the made up sort of restrictions and limitations. And I'm playing, I'm letting it unfold as it goes. I'll keep you posted, but I'm really having Yeah, I'm going to have to connect you with my peeps in in Costa Rica, um, my best friend of 25 years and his wife, they're opening a biohacking clinic in San Jose right now and have had a complete just shift in life change over the past 14 months. And the clinic is one of them as well, but this whole Costa Rica living and the whole, the whole podcast and concept is around, um, you know, um, clean living, biohacking, Costa Rica, living, living in a blue zone, the whole nine year, just an absolute perfect introduction to them. So I'm going to make that introduction. I can't wait for you guys to connect. And then once I go, I'm in Miami. So Costa Rica is so easy to get to, uh, literally a hop, skip and a jump away. So I look forward to us being able to connect again in real life and, uh, and follow your journey here. But I am so. incredibly encouraged by A, your story, and B, what you're up to. You are an absolute force, girl. So just keep doing what you're doing because it fucking matters and it's working. I've been talking to you for 15 minutes Well, our next visit will be in person in Costa Rica. I love it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Uh, well, I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation and we'll have to do it again sometime soon. I want to continue to follow your journey. I can't wait to hear about cans and what you did out there and what opportunities and synchronicities, um, and, and opportunities popped up. I'm sure there's going to be plenty. And I'm, I'm, I'm believing that you're going to come back going. I had no idea that this was going to happen and it did. So I'm excited to hear what those stories are all about. And I'm over here, uh, rooting from you, rooting for you. from afar. Any I just want to spread message of just love, compassion, and kindness. Like just go out into the world, make eye contact with a stranger, smile. If someone's triggering you, get curious about what kind of day they might've had, what kind of childhood. Just get out there, be kind, mostly towards yourself. Everyone's just doing their best. And most importantly, have a laugh, find the funny, What an ecstatic dance this whole life is. And I feel super blessed to know you. Another piece of evidence in my life about how much magic that there is that exists. So thank you for who you are I appreciate those words, Lindsay. You're incredible. Hey, Until next time, friends. Thanks so much for tuning into this episode of the Beyond the Story podcast. We sure do appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to the show. This way you'll get updates as new episodes become available. If you feel so inclined, please leave us a review. We sure do appreciate it. Signing off from the podcast, launchlab.com studios.