We are constantly within arm's reach of our devices, often feeling the urge to check notifications, respond to messages, and scroll through social media.

However, this perpetual connectivity can lead to stress, distraction, and burnout, making it essential to carve out mindful moments and embrace intentional disconnection.

By unplugging and practicing mindfulness, we can foster deeper focus, mental clarity, and overall well-being.

Enjoy the episode!

Many of us are constantly striving to "survive" rather than truly thriving.

Yet, flourishing is within reach for everyone willing to cultivate a balanced approach to life.

With a focus on nurturing both mental and physical health, this podcast explores how to thrive - achieving growth, resilience, and an abundance of positive outcomes.

Enjoy the episode!

Welcome back to The Peak Performance Series, where each week I'll be sharing the practical strategies from my books on how to improve your health and wellbeing, while performing to your potential at what you care about the most.

This week we're exploring the one thing I would do first to improve my health and wellbeing.

I hope this helps and that you enjoy the episode!

Yours for health, wellbeing & peak performance - Dr. Greg

This week I had an amazing conversation with mindfulness expert Dr. Ellen Choi on Sharpen Your Edge Live.

Ellen is a mindfulness researcher, speaker, teacher, coach, yogi, and meditator that is obsessed (in a mostly healthy way) with wellbeing, mental health, personal growth, and living with purpose.

She is an organizational social psychologist who trained at the London School of Economics and completed her doctoral degree at the Ivey School of Business. In particular, she studies the efficacy of mindfulness training on performance under pressure, resilience, and errors. Ellen has taught and researched mindfulness with corporate executives, lawyers, MBA students, elementary school students, police recruits, and in health care settings.

Ellen is an Assistant Professor at Toronto Metropolitan University in the Ted Rogers School of Management. She teaches organizational behaviour, which includes topics like decision making, team effectiveness, leadership, and motivation.

On this episode Ellen walks me through a series of mindfulness exercises that you can follow along with and implement into your daily life.

You can learn more about Ellen and her research at drellenchoi.com. Enjoy!

This week I had an amazing conversation with Eric Williamson, a grad student at the University of Toronto. He's a fantastic human being who is already making a significant contribution to our understanding of nutrition’s impact on performance. Eric is a registered dietitian who has completed his Master's degree and is currently pursuing a PhD.

In our conversation, he breaks down some key nutrition and lifestyle recommendations. Specifically, we dive into the importance of consuming whole foods, antioxidants and understanding the “why” behind our eating choices.

You can learn more about Eric at unlockedfitnessandnutrition.com. Enjoy!

Welcome back!

This week I had an amazing conversation with Kari Schneider. Kari is one of the world’s top exercise and strength training coaches. She has devoted her life to high performance, strength and conditioning, research, and physiology. She has worked with elite level athletes through the Canadian Sports Centre Network including national and Olympic level athletes in swimming, rhythmic gymnastics, volleyball, triathlon, soccer, football, Paralympic tennis, aerial skiing, and many more.

She is also the founder of Empowered Conditioning, a training centre that brings athletes and achievers to their goals in physicality, career, and life.

We had a great conversation on how to get into the best physical fitness of your life at any age. Getting and staying fit is a challenge in our busy lives but there are simple tactics that you can instil that can make a big difference.

Enjoy!

Welcome back!

I’m excited to share my interview with behaviour change expert Lisa Belanger. Lisa is the CEO of ConsciousWorks, a consulting firm that helps leaders apply the findings from leading-edge scientific research to maximize their mental capacity and performance. Lisa has a Ph.D. in Behavioural Medicine, an Executive MBA, and is a Certified Exercise Physiologist and High Performance Specialist.

Prior to COVID-19, Lisa was traveling the world (with her two month old baby) visiting companies to explore workplace culture, leadership, and the ability to destress from work. Pulling from the data and her lived experience she has created and hosts the popular podcast, The Science of Work.

Lisa is also the founder of a national charity, Knight’s Cabin, offering wellness programming to cancer survivors and the author of Inspire Me Well: Finding Motivation to Take Control of Your Health & A Cup of Mindfulness: For the Busy & Restless.

In this conversation we discuss the future of work, unwork, recovery, regeneration, and how to work smarter, not harder.

For more information about ConsciousWorks and Lisa, check out consciousworks.com.

Welcome back!

This week I had an amazing conversation with leadership expert Tim Arnold.

Tim has spent over two decades helping leaders manage complexity, increase resilience, and deliver results, with clients that include The United Nations, Royal Bank of Canada, Allstate Insurance, Compassion International, Toyota, and Siemens. After running both a for-profit business and a homeless shelter, he leverages his real-world experience to help organizations pursue both profit and purpose. Tim’s work focuses on helping leaders unleash the superpower of Both/And thinking in an Either/Or world.

In this amazing conversation we talk about building healthy high performance teams and developing world-class leadership. You can learn more about Tim and his new book Lead With And at https://leadersforleaders.ca/.

Enjoy!

This week I had the privilege of interviewing my friend Ray Zahab on Sharpen Your Edge Live.

Ray is one of the top adventurers in the world. He’s an ultra-runner, Explorer in Residence Royal Canadian Geographical Society, and has run across some of the most difficult terrain on the planet, including the Sahara desert, the Gobi desert, and a run from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean across the Andes mountains.

In this amazing conversation Ray talks about his latest expedition attempt across Ellesmere Island, pushing the limits, building trust and making good decisions under pressure.

If you want to learn more about him, you can go to his website at rayzahab.com and his organization website at impossible2possible.com.

Enjoy!

Welcome back!

I’m excited to share my live conversation with mental health advocate Mark Henick.

Influenced by his direct experience with stigma and the mental health care system, Mark dedicated his life from an early age to opening minds and creating change.

Mark is the principal and CEO of Strategic Mental Health Solutions, a consulting firm that specializes in helping organizations and individuals to move strategically from basic mental health awareness toward meaningful, measurable action.

Mark is a sought after public speaker and active media commentator on issues related to mental illness and mental health. Mark’s TEDx talk, Why We Choose Suicide, is among the most watched in the world with over 6 million views. His story of searching for “the man in the light brown jacket” who saved his life from a teenage suicide attempt went viral around the world.

In this conversation Mark walks us through five things that we can do to improve our mental health during these challenging times and in this post-pandemic world.

You can learn more about Mark and his new book So-Called Normal at his website markhenick.com.

Enjoy!

Welcome back!

This week I’m excited to share my live broadcast on Sharpen Your Edge. I dive into the idea that we can reach our true human potential by modulating our energy and tension levels to get that balance between activation, tension, energy, and performance. This is an important concept that applies to everyone - athletes, musicians, artists, business people, etc.

In this episode, I talk about peak performance state, zone flow states and how we can reach our true human potential.

Tune into my live broadcasts at linkedin.com/in/drgregwells every Thursday at noon Eastern.

Enjoy!

Welcome back!

I’m really excited to launch Season 6 with a live broadcast I did on Sharpen Your Edge. We are seeing overwhelming levels of burnout, fatigue, and exhaustion. I want to make sure that we're providing you with as much information as we can about how to optimize your health, wellbeing, and performance during these incredibly challenging times.

In this episode I talk about what to do if you’re feeling stressed, overwhelmed and burned out.

Tune into my live broadcasts at linkedin.com/in/drgregwells every Thursday at noon Eastern.

Welcome back!

It’s hard to believe that this is our 150th episode! After this, we’re going to take a break and regroup. When we come back, we hope to uplevel the podcast and dive even deeper into the science of high performance to help you boost your performance and reach your potential.

In this final episode of Season 5, I’m sharing an interview I did with Dr. Lisa Belanger. Lisa recently launched The Science of Work podcast, which shares science based strategies to build the ideal work design for the modern workplace and improve business outcomes.

Lisa is the CEO of ConsciousWorks, an organization that helps leaders apply their findings from leading-edge scientific research to maximize their mental capacity and performance. She has a Ph.D. in Behavioural Medicine, an Executive MBA, and is a Certified Exercise Physiologist and High Performance Specialist.

Lisa was on this show earlier this year and now I had the opportunity to be on her show. In this episode, we dig into recovery, regeneration, high performance, and tactics to reach your absolute potential in your work and in your life.

Enjoy!

Welcome back to The Peak Performance Series, where each week I'll be sharing the practical strategies from my books on how to improve your health and wellbeing, while performing to your potential at what you care about the most.

This week we're exploring how to Think Clearly to improve your mental health and mental performance.

I hope this helps and that you enjoy the episode!

Yours for health, wellbeing & peak performance - Dr. Greg

Welcome back!

This week I had the privilege of sitting down with Marc Champagne. Marc is a mental fitness strategist, which is, by Marc’s definition, the combination of two core drivers:

1. To teach, guide, and illuminate a unique way of thinking through asking the right questions.

2. To distill, organize, and simplify complex situations and solutions.

In other words, he’s an expert at the intersection between mental fitness and strategic thinking.

Marc studies the mental fitness practices and reflective questions that shape the lives of some of the most successful and brilliant thinkers in the world. He hosts the top 50 ranked podcast Behind The Human and co-founded the journaling app KYO, which reached 87 million people. He’s studied mental fitness practices for over a decade and consults with Fortune 500 companies as a mental fitness strategist and speaker.

In this conversation, we talk about asking good questions - Are they the right ones? Are they the best ones given the situation? And are we asking enough of them?

If you want to learn more about him, you can check out his website behindthehuman.com.

Enjoy!

Welcome back!

This week I had a great conversation with Dr. Marie-Helene Pelletier. Dr. Pelletier holds a PhD and an MBA from The University of British Columbia, and teaches leadership resilience at the UBC School of Business.

She is an award-winning work psychologist who has led workplace mental health strategy in senior leadership roles at various organizations including Sun Life Financial. She’s a past Director on the boards of the Canadian Psychological Association and the International Association of Applied Psychology and an active member of the Global Clinical Practice Network of the World Health Organization.

We have a great conversation all about fatigue, stress, and burn out. As these topics are extremely relevant right now, I’m really excited to share her insights and strategies that we can use every day to help us cope better.

You can learn more about her at her website drmhpelletier.com or find her on LinkedIn. 

Enjoy the conversation!

Welcome back!

This week I sit down with Sébastien Sasseville. Sébastien holds a bachelor’s degree in communications, he is a TEDx speaker, and has spent the first ten years of his career working for Fortune 500 companies. His biggest strength as a speaker is to build strong connections between the world of sports and business.

Seb was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in 2002. He vowed that the obstacle would never keep him from living life to the fullest and today his story is a testament to how challenges can be turned into opportunities.

In 2008, Seb reached the Summit of Mount Everest. He then completed 6 Ironmans and the mythical Sahara race. In 2014, he ran across Canada from St. John’s to Vancouver, totalling 7,200 km, or 170 marathons in nine months.

In this amazing conversation we talk about accomplishment, routine, and excellence. If you want to learn more about Seb you can visit his website sebinspire.com or check him out on social media.

Enjoy!

Welcome back!

This week I had a great conversation with my good friend and adventurer Ray Zahab.

Ray is a global adventurer, having completed some of the most intense expeditions on the planet. His list of accomplishments include running across the Sahara desert, skiing to the south pole, and Arctic expeditions (including a solo expedition in January 2020).

In this episode we discuss goal setting and mindset around world class performance and health. As one of the most prolific adventurers and explorers in the world, Ray is a great person to have this conversation with.

If you want to learn more about him, you can go to his website rayzahab.com and at his organization website impossible2possible.com.

Enjoy!

Welcome back!

This week I had an amazing conversation with Dr. Elaine Chin, who has a medical degree and MBA.

Dr. Chin is a North American trailblazer of personalized medicine. Her goal is to help educate people on how to stay healthier for longer. Dr. Chin is the founder of The Executive Health Centre, a premier precision medicine practice in Toronto. Most recently, she has developed a virtual health care offering, Health in a Box, which includes a patient health record as part of The Innovation Health Group.

She is the author of the book Lifelines: Unlock the Secrets of Your Telomeres for a Longer, Healthier Life, which was on the Globe & Mail’s Top 10 Bestseller List. She also just published a book titled Welcome Back! How to Reboot your Physical and Mental Well-Being for a Post-Pandemic World.

We're really lucky to have her because she brings a great research and evidence-based medical perspective. In this episode, we talk about all of the issues that we want to address coming out of the pandemic and how to stay super healthy.

If you want to learn more about her, you can check out her website drelainechin.com.

Enjoy the conversation!

Welcome back!

Recently I had a conversation with Dr. Marco Altini. Marco is a scientist and developer working at the intersection between health, technology, and performance. He has a PhD in Data Science and a MSc in Computer Science Engineering and in Human Movement Sciences.

In 2012, Marco started HRV4Training, a mobile platform using advanced signal processing and data analytics to measure physiology and quantify stress using heart rate variability (HRV) to help athletes better balance training and lifestyle stressors to improve performance.

I'm really excited to share this conversation with you because wearable technology has just exploded in the past few years and more and more people are using it to track their recovery and stress, and to boost their performance. Marco is an expert in this field and so it was really great to sit down and talk to him all about how he uses wearable technology to help people boost their health and performance. 

You can learn more about his work at HRV4Training or at his personal website marcoaltini.com. 

Enjoy the conversation!

Welcome back!

This week I'm excited to share my conversation with Sarah Gilks. Sarah has built such an incredible community of women around the world who are working on getting healthier and reaching their potential. 

Sarah is the founder and CEO of the internationally renowned women's health and fitness movement Healthy Role Model (HRM). Sarah created HRM when she saw a need for a community made up of women who were passionate about health, supporting one another, and striving for excellence in all areas of their lives. Centred around community, HRM teaches through modelling instead of telling. 

HRM has quickly grown from 20 women from her hometown to 1400 people worldwide. You can learn more about it at her website healthyrolemodels.com.  

Enjoy this conversation all about the power of community!

Welcome back!

This week I had an amazing conversation with Shaun Francis on the Medcan Live Well podcast. Shaun is the CEO of Medcan, an executive health service that does full comprehensive medicals for executives all over Canada and the U.S.

We had a great conversation all about the benefits of recovery, why we all need to be thinking about how to sleep better, and how to optimize our lives for the best results.

You can check out more Live Well episodes here.

Enjoy!

Welcome back! 

This week as I return home, I took a step back to reflect on the past year and how my priorities have shifted. In this short episode, I dig into the three P's of building your Personal Positive Community: People, Places, and Pursuits. Deliberately choosing who you spend your time with, where you spend your time, and what you spend your time doing, has enormous impact on your life and happiness. 

Let me know what you think!

Welcome back!

This week I’m excited to share an episode I did on my old podcast a few years ago. I wanted to share it again because I received such great feedback from it and it was such a compelling conversation.

Mark is a specialist in body language and human behaviour. He’s trained business people, teams, CEOs of Fortune 500 Companies, and Prime Ministers of G7 Powers.

He is the author of several books including the best seller ‘Winning Body Language for Sales Professionals’ and his most recent book with Tracey Thomson ‘Truth and Lies: What People Are Really Thinking’.

Mark is the President and co-founder of TruthPlane, an organization that helps other organizations implement these ideas to improve performance.

In this conversation we talk about fear, confidence, and strategies you can implement in your life to improve your communication and confidence.

You can find out more about him at his website TruthPlane.

Enjoy the conversation!

Welcome to The Peak Performance Series, where each week I'll be sharing the practical strategies from my books on how to improve your health and wellbeing, while performing to your potential at what you care about the most.

This week we're exploring how to Eat Smarter.

I hope this helps and that you enjoy the episode!

Yours for health, wellbeing & peak performance - Dr. Greg

Welcome back!

This week I had a great conversation with my friend Alec Watson.

Alec was a gold and platinum earning recording engineer and producer who one day quit and turned to photography.

Now Alec is a professional photographer and digital media creator specializing in brand story-telling through visuals. Alec's work can be seen promoting brands including Goldwell, KMS, Microsoft, Sexy Hair, Starbucks, Coca-Cola, Nordstrom, Britney Spears, and most recently as Brand Leader for Robin Sharma and Healthy Role Models.

Alec has a passion for understanding how imagery affects the way we think. We have an amazing conversation about sight versus vision, colour, emotional response to colour, how we interpret imagery, and how we can use imagery to interpret the world around us.

You can find out more about him at yourvisualbrand.com and at alecwatson.com.

Enjoy!

Welcome back!

This week I had an amazing conversation with Dr. Melissa Piercell. 

Melissa graduated from The University of Windsor with an honours degree in Neuroscience. She developed her love for holistic wellness and decided to further her education by completing the four-year Naturopathic Doctor program at The Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine. 

Melissa currently works in downtown Toronto with her private practice involving the health of professionals and athletes, she's the naturopathic doctor for the National Ballet of Canada, and she is part of our consulting team at Wells Performance. 

Melissa has a special interest in motivating her patients to improve their lifestyle by making changes that are long-term and realistic. We dig into this topic a lot during this episode. 

Enjoy this conversation with optimizing nutrition and health specialist Dr. Melissa Piercell! 

If you have any follow up questions, you can contact Melissa directly at melissa@wellsperformance.com. You can also find more information about her and her practice at newleafmed.ca.

Welcome back!

This week I had an amazing conversation with Andy Blow. Andy is a Sports Scientist who is an expert in exercise, hydration, and electrolyte replacement. 

When competing as an elite level triathlete in his younger days, Andy struggled with cramps and hydration that led to him specializing in electrolyte replenishment and founding Precision Hydration. He discovered how individualized fluid and electrolyte replacement can make a big difference to performance. That led him to setting up Precision Hydration, a company that specializes in sweat, dehydration, cramping, electrolyte replenishment, and helping athletes better understand their own hydration needs.

Enjoy the conversation!

Episode Notes:

If you want to learn about the Science of Endurance Hydration, you can sign up for Andy’s Course at Training Peaks University. Go to https://trainingpeaks-university.thinkific.com/courses/science-of-endurance-hydration and use the Code SWEAT457UXL when signing up to get access to the course.

You can also get 15% off your first order at precisionhydration.com. Use the Code WELLS15 at the checkout to get your discount.

Finally, if you have any questions about your hydration and fueling strategy, or want to know more about Precision Hydration, you can book a free one-to-one video call with a member off Andy’s team using this link: https://www.precisionhydration.com/book-a-sweat-expert-call/

Welcome back!

This week I had an amazing conversation with my friend Kunal Gupta.

Kunal is an entrepreneur in technology space. He runs a company called Polar, a digital media business that he’s been working on for over a decade. Polar provides advertising technology solutions to hundreds of trusted publishers in 30 countries around the world.

Kunal is a social impact entrepreneur, he volunteers with the Canadian Association for Mental Health, is a meditation teacher, and is becoming an influencer around mindfulness, wellness, business, and performance.

In this conversation, we talk about health, wellbeing, mindfulness, concentration, fear, and reaching your potential.

You can learn more about him at his website bykunal.com/blog.

Enjoy!

Welcome back!

One of the big challenges that we’re all faced with as we emerge from this pandemic is how do we return to work? What does that look like? How do we do that in a way that improves our health and wellbeing?

This is a Q&A session that I did recently all around this topic. We talk about managing our return to the workplace and how we can make our work a place where we go to get healthier.

Enjoy!

Welcome back!

This week I had the privilege of talking to Olympic Champion Kyle Shewfelt!

Kyle began his gymnastics career at the age of 6 when his mother was tired of him cartwheeling around the house. She and his father enrolled Kyle in gymnastics lessons at their local club as an outlet for his energy. Kyle’s passion for the sport quickly ignited and he soon realized it would be a lifelong pursuit.

Kyle is a three-time Olympian and a multiple World Championship, Commonwealth Games, and World Cup medalist. His gold medal performance in the men’s floor exercise at the 2004 Olympics was the first-ever medal for a Canadian in an artistic gymnastics event and was the first Canadian gold of the 2004 Olympics.

Kyle is known for the courage he showed in the face of adversity. After breaking his legs on a bad landing in 2007, he embarked on the biggest challenge of his career and had just 11 months to recover in time for the 2008 games. He qualified and his comeback inspired many young gymnasts.

Now Kyle’s focus is in involving and engaging others. After retiring from competition in 2009, Kyle is still heavily involved in the sport and the community. He has been an expert analyst for both CBC and CTV’s coverage of gymnastics. Kyle is an ambassador and mentor for Gymnastics Canada Gymnastique and he works closely with numerous charity organizations including Kidsport, Special Olympics and Right To Play. In addition, he sits on the board of directors for the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport and was inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2010.

Above all else, Kyle is a perpetual optimist who enjoys helping others reach their potential. He believes in the power of a high five and is excited to connect everyone to the foundation of the sport he loves so much.

We discuss his learnings from being involved in sport and his future vision of a safe space around sport.

Enjoy!

Welcome back! 

In the first episode of Season 5, I’m super excited to share my conversation with world class sports science journalist Alex Hutchinson. He’s one of the best sports science journalists out there and he focuses a lot on endurance training and what we can do as endurance athletes to be better.

He has a great blog called Sweat Science which you can check out at Outside magazine. You can also follow him on twitter @sweatscience.

We have a great chat all about pushing the limits, heat, the latest research on how the brain copes with suffering and pain, recovery from injury, and how to exercise at an even higher level.

Enjoy the conversation!

Welcome back!

This week I’m excited to share an interview I did on Ramon David’s podcast BrainFirst.

We dig into mental performance, brain function, optimizing health, wellbeing, and high performance, coping with this strange era, and my new book Rest, Refocus, Recharge. There are some really cool nuggets that you can take away from this episode.

You can listen to more amazing episodes with Ramon, in which he interviews leading neuroscientists and brain experts to help you upgrade your brain and life, at his website BrainFirst Radio.

Enjoy the episode!

Welcome back!

This week I had an incredible conversation with Stephen Drum.

Stephen is a combat-tested retired Navy SEAL Master Chief with 27 years of experience leading and developing high performance teams. He’s an in-demand speaker and consultant who helps individuals and organizations develop leadership and performance strategies so they can plan, prepare, and execute at the highest level when it matters the most.

Stephen’s trained and led U.S. and foreign partner special operations forces on high risk and strategically vital missions around the world, including combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He recently co-developed and taught warrior toughness training for the U.S. Navy, which fundamentally changed the culture of the Navy in how it trains and prepares young sailors and officers for the acute stress of intense combat operations.

We had an amazing conversation all about performance psychology, mental rehearsal, and how to plan and prepare for adversity and critical moments.

You can learn more about Stephen and his work at his website stephendrum.com.

Enjoy!

Welcome back!

I’m super excited to share my chat all around high intensity interval training with Paul Laursen.

Paul is an author, endurance coach, high-performance consultant, and entrepreneur. He was formerly employed as the Physiology Manager for High Performance Sport New Zealand, where he worked extensively with New Zealand Triathlon. He retained his role as Adjunct Professor of Exercise Physiology at Auckland University of Technology, where he was to reside at the nexus between theory, research and application of sport science and physiology for high-performance sport. He has a broad range of research interests including high intensity interval training, heart rate variability, thermoregulation, and health and artificial intelligence. He’s published over 125 refereed manuscripts in high impact exercise and sports science journal, with his work having been cited over 8,000 times.

Today, he is the co-founder and CEO of HIIT Science and Athletica. HIIT Science is an online educational platform that teaches the science and application of high-intensity interval training to professional trainers and coaches, while Athletica is an automated training program platform that uses the HIIT Science principles to maximize athlete health and performance potential.

If you want to learn about Paul you can check out hiitscience.com and his personal blog plewsandprof.com.

Enjoy this conversation with high intensity interval training expert Paul Laursen!

This week we are continuing with our Performance Series.

In this episode I explore the power of physical activity, the dangers of sitting and how we can add more exercise to our daily lives.

I'll present 7 Tips to help you add more physical activity to your life so that you can elevate your health and wellbeing.

Let me know your thoughts and questions on social @drgregwells.

Have a great week everyone!

Welcome back!

This week I had the opportunity to talk with mental skills coach Jean François Ménard.

He is an internationally acclaimed mental performance expert who coaches high achievers in all walks of life. He’s the founder of Kambio Performance, a company specialized in mental training and leadership coaching. His clients are proven winners: Olympic gold medalists, Cirque du Soleil artists, Super Bowl and X Games champions, NHL players, surgeons, pop stars, and corporate leaders. He is a bestselling author, a radio personality, and an accomplished speaker who travels the globe to share his knowledge with high performance organizations.

His latest book is called Train (Your Brain) Like an Olympian: Gold Medal Techniques to Unleash Your Potential at Work. In this conversation we talk all about his new book, and strategies that you can use to keep your mind sharp and performing at your absolute best.

Enjoy!

Welcome back!

This week I’m super excited to share my conversation with Dr. Gillian Mandich.

Gillian has a PhD from Western University in Health Science, specializing in Health Promotion. Her primary areas of research are happiness and health, and her work combines the latest research, practical wisdom, and engagement to help people live happier, healthier lives.

Gillian is the founder of The International Happiness Institute of Health Science Research, is part of the Meant2Prevent research team at SickKids, and is the co-lead investigator of The Canadian Happiness At Work Study.

She appears regularly in the media on shows such as The Social, Marilyn Denis, Breakfast Television, The Morning Show, and CBC, and was recently named the CanFitPro 2020 Canadian Presenter of the Year. She has given two TEDx talks: “The Surprising Truth About Happiness” and “The Two Things You Need To Know To Be Happier Today”.

You can lean more about her at her website gillianmandich.com. 

Enjoy this conversation all about happiness!

Welcome back!

This week I had an amazing conversation with Kari Schneider. Kari is one of the world’s top exercise and strength training coaches. She has devoted her life to high performance, strength and conditioning, research, and physiology. She has worked with elite level athletes through the Canadian Sports Centre Network including national and Olympic level athletes in swimming, rhythmic gymnastics, volleyball, triathlon, soccer, football, Paralympic tennis, aerial skiing, and many more.

She is also the founder of Empower Conditioning, a training centre that brings athletes and achievers to their goals in physicality, career, and life.

We had a really great conversation all about health and wellbeing, exercise physiology, training, and fitness.

Enjoy!

Welcome back!

This week I’m excited to share my conversation with Mark Sutcliffe where I had the chance to be a guest on his podcast Digging Deep.

In this episode, we dig deep into a whole bunch of topics including action preceding motivation, sleep and recovery, regeneration practices, nutrition, fitness, managing stress, what the best athletes in the world have in common, and insights to keep ourselves moving forward.

You can find all of his other episodes on his website.

Enjoy the conversation!

Welcome back!

This week I had an amazing conversation with broadcaster, speaker, and best-selling author Lisa Bowes.

Lisa is a pioneer in sports media. She’s worked for CTV, The Score, CBC, NCAA Productions, TSN, and was the host/reporter for Women’s Ice Hockey at the 2010 Olympic Games, including the gold medal final between Canada and the USA that drew 7.5 million viewers.

Lisa has created the “Lucy Tries” book series, which inspires children to read, be active, and persevere. The series focuses on participation and the importance of play. The books follow Lucy and her friends as they learn introductory skills in a variety of exciting sports, guided by coaches and teachers.

I’m really excited to share this conversation as we all have lost the opportunity to play sports during this time. The importance of connecting with people through sports and being active is something we all need as we come out of this pandemic.

Enjoy the conversation all about trying, failure, and perseverance with Lisa Bowes!

Welcome back!

This week I’m excited to share my interview with Kate Eckman.

Kate graduated with a B.A. in communications from Penn State University, where she was an Academic All-American swimmer.

She now empowers high-achieving individuals to actualize their full potential. With a results-driven method rooted in neuroscience, positive psychology, and whole-person coaching techniques, she helps her clients succeed in and out of the boardroom and on and off the field.

Kate leverages her experience as a communications, performance, and mindfulness expert, accomplished entrepreneur, and former elite athlete to equip leaders with the tools, methodology, and energetic boost they need to succeed.

She is the author of The Full Spirit Workout: A 10-Step System to Shed Your Self-Doubt, Strengthen Your Spiritual Core, and Create a Fun & Fulfilling Life.

In this conversation we dive into a whole bunch of topics including energy, performance, resilience, focus, relationships, confidence, wellbeing, and fulfillment.

Enjoy!

Welcome back!

Today I’m really excited to share my interview with Dr. Jessica Potter. Jessica is a board qualified Forefoot and Rearfoot Surgeon with the American Board of Foot and Ankle Surgery and an Associate of the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons.

She was born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia. She received a golf scholarship to the University of San Francisco where she obtained an undergraduate degree in Exercise and Sports Science with a minor in Pre-med while playing NCAA golf for four years. She played an additional two years on the Canadian Women’s National Team and was inducted into the 2018 Athletic Hall of Fame at the University of San Francisco for her contributions to USF Women’s Golf.

She attended the California School of Podiatric Medicine and after graduating she attended her top choice surgical residency program at Legacy Health/Kaiser Permanente in Portland, Oregon. Dr. Potter specializes in sports medicine, reconstructive surgery and trauma.

In this conversation, we dig into her knowledge all about the complexity of the foot, how the foot is so important for movement, and new technologies she’s using to help athletes recover from injuries and return to play.

Enjoy the conversation!

Welcome back!

This week I’m excited to share my incredible conversation with mental health advocate Mark Henick.

Influenced by his direct experience with stigma and the mental health care system, Mark dedicated his life from an early age to opening minds and creating change.

Mark is the principal and CEO of Strategic Mental Health Solutions, a consulting firm that specializes in helping organizations and individuals to move strategically from basic mental health awareness toward meaningful, measurable action.

Mark is a sought after public speaker and active media commentator on issues related to mental illness and mental health. Mark’s TEDx talk, Why We Choose Suicide, is among the most watched in the world with over 6 million views. His story of searching for “the man in the light brown jacket” who saved his life from a teenage suicide attempt went viral around world.

In this conversation we discuss the art of failing, moving from resistance to growth, resilience, and embracing joy.

You can learn more about Mark and his new book So-Called Normal at his website markhenick.com.

Enjoy the conversation!

Welcome back!

This week I had an amazing interview with Ben Titley, head coach for the Canadian Olympic Swim Team. Ben has coached dozens of Olympians, multiple Olympic medalists, and multiple World Record holders.

His repeated success demonstrates that there is something incredibly special about his coaching style, and his knowledge and expertise are fascinating.

We had an amazing conversation about his past, his coaching philosophy, his pursuit of excellence, and his insights into how to get the most out of his athletes.

If you’re into sports you’ll love this. And even if you’re not, the lessons learned from high performance sport and coaching can be applied to everything.

Enjoy the conversation!

Welcome back!

This week I’m super excited to share my recent interview with mental health and resiliency expert Dr. Robyne Hanley-Dafoe.

Robyne is a multi-award-winning psychology and education instructor who specializes in navigating stress and change, leadership, and personal wellness. She has very practical strategies that are grounded in research and case studies.

Robyne’s been on the show before but I love chatting with her as she provokes my thinking every time we speak. In this conversation we do a deep dive into mental health, resiliency, and bouncing back. We also discuss her new book Calm Within the Storm: A Pathway to Everyday Resiliency.

Enjoy the conversation!

Welcome to The Ripple Effect Series, where each week I'll be sharing the practical strategies from The Ripple Effect book on how to sleep, eat, move and think better.

This week we're exploring how to Sleep Soundly.

I hope this helps and that you enjoy the episode!

Welcome back!

This week I’m super excited to share my interview with gratitude researcher and practitioner Steve Foran.

Steve’s dream is one billion happier people. He began exploring the relationship between gratitude and philanthropic giving during his MBA, and received the Gold Medal for highest academic standing. Since then, he’s been writing and conducting practice-based gratitude research and teaching the habits of gratefulness for close to fifteen years. What’s emerged is his science-based program, Gratitude At Work, which uses gratitude to improve leadership and drive business growth.

You can learn more about his work at his website Gratitude At Work.

In this conversation, we explore what it really means to be grateful and how we can practice gratitude every day to amplify our lives.

Enjoy!

Welcome back!

This week I’m really excited to share my interview with author and keynote speaker Todd Henry. Todd has helped hundreds of thousands of people around the world do the best work of their lives by helping them unleash their creativity, be more productive, and generate brilliant ideas.

His latest book, The Motivation Code, unlocks the secrets to deep engagement, satisfaction, and productivity.

This is an episode from my original podcast but I wanted to rebroadcast it as his ideas apply to all of us as we try to reimagine the future during this strange time.

You can learn more about his work, including his books and podcast, at his website toddhenry.com.

Enjoy the conversation!

Welcome back!

This week I’m super excited to share my interview with Riaz Meghji.

Riaz is a human connection keynote speaker and author of the book “Every Conversation Counts: The 5 Habits of Human Connection That Build Extraordinary Relationships”.

He is also an accomplished broadcaster with 17 years of television hosting experience; he has interviewed experts on current affairs, sports, entertainment, politics, and business. His on-camera experience not only taught him the power of a candid conversation, but also how to put it into practice.

Riaz has hosted for Citytv’s Breakfast Television, MTV Canada, TEDxVancouver, CTV News, and the Toronto International Film Festival. He is a natural storyteller with a proven ability to conduct engaging, in-depth conversations across various disciplines.

Off camera, Riaz dedicates himself to philanthropy and causes he cares about including Canuck Place Children’s Hospice and Covenant House. He holds a degree in business from Simon Fraser University and studied leadership communication at Harvard Extension School and the Canadian Management Centre.

In this amazing conversation we talk about mental health, connection, gratitude, and a whole bunch of other topics that keep coming up on this show.

Please enjoy this conversation with human connection and gratitude specialist Riaz Meghji!