Mark Rutan shares his journey from the philosopher’s stone to the yogi’s mat and how he has applied the study of reason and understanding of the human experience to quiet the noise of the world. Battling his own health obstacles, he has been able to find significant peace through practicing and teaching yoga. Go into this episode mindful of what may be distracting you right now and allow Mark’s insight to help you quiet that noise and bring calm to your life.

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Joe: All right. I am sitting here with my friend of now almost a year it seems, Mark. I first met Mark at Core Power. I walked into one of your classes about a year ago. I know in several of the first classes that I attended with you, I was going through some ups and downs. With this business I’ve been extremely stressed at times. Every time I’ve gone to one of your classes, I leave so grounded or I leave with some type of a message that helps me get through the day, get through the next couple of hours. First of all, I just have to thank you for what you’ve been in my life over the last year, the teacher that you’ve been, the friend. Thank you for sitting down with me to have a little fun on a podcast.

Mark Rutan: Absolutely. Absolutely. It’s really good to sit down with you. Thank you for sharing that too. It has been an awesome year for me as well getting to know you and your company and the people that make up the company. I’m happy to be now one of those people that is supporting you and those that are important to you too.

Joe: We’ve had this vision of where we want Cured to go. In several of those first classes with you at Core Power, when we would have the whole team there, it was we’d have like 8-10 people there and everybody’s like, “Man, how do we get Mark to come teach for us?” It’s been really cool to be able to connect more and more just outside of that and then have you come lead yoga at our office and then lead some flows or lead a flow at our first wellness event. We had such great feedback from everybody that came to that.

Mark Rutan: That was fantastic. That was a lot of fun.

Joe: Those of you that are listening that are in Denver, you have to come to one of our next events to come experience Mark’s teaching. It’s really, really beautiful. One of the things that stands out the most to me is how you take lessons in your life and can then bring them into class. A lot of times you’re saying my teacher and a lot of times you’re talking about your son Makai-

Mark Rutan: Definitely. Yeah.

Joe: …who is… How old is he now?

Mark Rutan: He just turned one.

Joe: Yeah. How beautiful that is to be like understanding that there’s so much that we can learn from a very innocent child that’s here just exploring the world, exploring movement.

Mark Rutan: He’s my second teacher. I also have an eight year old daughter now. She was immediately someone who gets out of the way of showing you some blind spots and places that you can grow. In taking on being her dad, that was a big step. She loves yoga. She loves moving and dancing. I love to read what life and what the universe is giving me and then hopefully be a bridge to helping somebody.

Joe: I think it’s… Excuse me. I think it’s really grounding and it has this sense of like, “Oh, I’m okay. I am a child at heart.” Being able to listen to you and tell your stories of observing your children and remembering like where we came from.

Mark Rutan: Right.

Joe: Because we’re so caught up-

Mark Rutan: Learning to walk.

Joe: Right. We’re so caught up in where we’re at today and we forget what it’s like to have that mind and live in that world that they’re living in at whatever age they’re at.

Mark Rutan: Well, I think you’ve touched on two of the things that are really key points in what I teach and why I teach. Moving from a beginner’s mind is very helpful in letting go of what we know because there’s so much that we don’t know and then there’s this whole vast realm that we don’t even know that we don’t know. It’s very powerful to start with that beginner’s mind because Warrior Two is always going to be Warrior Two. How do we find bliss with something that we may or may think we already know? Then the other is coming from looking at everybody as a teacher or looking at every experience as a teacher.

In the same that I’m interacting with the world, the world’s interacting with me. Based on how I am, the world reacts to that. I love sharing stories about a baby learning to walk and to crawl and then taking knowledge from that. “Oh, well, I can learn to walk and crawl in a more intuitive way in my body,” and I found that that really helps with the aches and pains of being an adult.

Joe: Yeah, for sure. What’s your daughter’s name again? I forgot.

Mark Rutan: Kiva.

Joe: Kiva. Tell us what she calls yoga because every time you bring it up, I’m like, “Oh gosh. That’s right.”

Mark Rutan: I love her, the simplicity of some of her philosophies. She brought that up a couple of years ago saying that yoga is moving away from the loud. It’s a very simple way of interacting with our own minds. Sometimes our bodies make a lot of noise. Sometimes the outside world is really loud. In all cases, when we move away from that loudness, it syncs us back into ourself or our soul or our spirit, whatever you want to call it.

Joe: It’s really powerful because there are times… Sometimes yoga… The poses can be so hard that you actually can’t think about anything else-

Mark Rutan: Sure.

Joe: …besides that pose.

Mark Rutan: It snaps you into the present.

Joe: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Mark Rutan: Absolutely.

Joe: Which is so like… I feel like so much of my life being a very anxious person and go, go, go, go, go, go, go, it’s really hard to get into the present moment.

Mark Rutan: Right.

Joe: Sometimes I’ll be like, “Where did the last year go? Where did it go?”

Mark Rutan: Totally. Well, yeah, now Makai’s one and the time passed quickly, although my wife says that the days are really long, the moments are really long. I think that that’s how it can feel when you’re either anxious or depressed thinking about the future or living in the past. It’s so important to come back to the present and realize truly that we live in this ever present or eternal now. It’s always now. I was listening to Graham Hancock. He’s like, “It’s always now. Like right now is now.” When we act in the now from a grounded place or from that soul center, we forget that there’s a future and we forget that there’s a past in a way.

Even though we are affecting the future and the past, then we are in the moment.

Joe: It’s tough to do. It’s really tough to do.

Mark Rutan: Certainly there’s all these things that we know and strategies that are effective.

Joe: Right. Well, I’ll just admit it because I like to just be fully transparent. It’s great to know all these things and understand all of these things, but it’s so easy to forget them. It’s so easy to forget that that’s what we need to give to ourself is this present moment. That’s really it.

Mark Rutan: Right. It can be effective, right, with your bank account for example to plan for next year. We don’t want to just blow all of our money living in the present. However, it’s not all about planning for tomorrow. If we’re always, always, always planning for tomorrow, then we’re not living today. This practice, yoga, is for me about snapping back from maybe living in the future too much or living in the past too much.

Joe: How long have you been practicing yoga? I have never even asked you that.

Mark Rutan: No. It’s hard for me to kind of put a years on it because I came in through a different pathway than I think most. I studied in college philosophy and was really into Buddhist philosophy. Then when we kind of hit our chapter on Hinduism, I was like, “Oh, wow. This isn’t at all what I thought it was from kind of the Western cultural perspective on what it is to be Hindu.” Even with that little bit of a knowledge, that was just kind of like a crack that let a lot of light in. The physical practice I connected to from a physical therapy standpoint. I had been doing therapy for my lower back and spine. Many of the exercises that we do in the studio are based off of yoga type of postures.

I’ve been practicing in the studio about six years. That came about with my Crohn’s diagnosis. I was on Humira and didn’t want to be Humira. I wouldn’t recommend it for everybody, but for me the right answer was doing a lot of yoga, talking about and expressing my feelings and making yoga a part of my life practice rather than just when I was feeling pain in my back.

Joe: Before the podcast, we were starting to talk about how important it is to express and to feel and to let things out. What were you feeling like when you… Before and leading up to and then you were diagnosed with Crohn’s? What was the onset of that like and then now you’ve obviously understood it a lot more. As we were discussing before the podcast, you’re like, “Oh, when I’m expressing things, I feel more relief. I’m not bottling things up.” What was that? I’m sure that wasn’t an easy…

Mark Rutan: It was definitely a process, sure. Like an unraveling. But when I was diagnosed, I was feeling very bound up or unable to express myself in the world in a way that would be received. Very unconfident in my place. Through various channels, regaining that power and placement and voice. through expression really, and yoga was something that helps with that. Just as an example, dancing. For me, moving my feet, moving my legs feels great. I can move my hips. I can move my shoulders. But then when it comes up to my arms, my arms don’t want to move. My arms want to stay close to my body protected. That is a good physical representation of how I was feeling.

I wasn’t able to really reach out and ask for help. I wasn’t really able to reach out and give. Then with yoga, if you’re Warrior Two, your arms are like fully extended and out. That was really uncomfortable for a long time, but now it’s a place that I love being because I feel those and I’m even doing it now as we’re talking.
Joe: Yeah, with your arms out, yeah.

Mark Rutan: It just makes me feel open. It’s a really simple body position, but it’s really powerful in the way that it connects for me in being open, opening my hands, opening my arms. Just opening the front of my body from being protected.

Joe: It’s amazing how much body position and posture can tell the stories that it can tell about a person. I’m sure you can be in class and kind of feel energy from people and be like, “Okay. This person might need a little bit more of this or a little bit more of that.” That’s something that I wanted to dive into because you’re really… You blow my mind every time we get into yoga. I don’t know how you do it, but it’s always what I need. You can really pick up on energy and, “Okay. Today we need to be more grounded. Today we need to expand more, be more open.”

How do you approach each session, each class that you teach and really pick up on what everybody’s feeling and what they did because you’re really good at it?

Mark Rutan: Thank you. Some of it is… I would say most of it’s… I don’t want to take credit for it because some of it is just the yoga. Some of it is moving and breathing. It’s you coming onto your mat being present and available to the process. The way I craft my classes though is I think what you’re speaking to and you do feel that. I pay attention to the weather in my body, how does it feel. Although Crohn’s suck sometimes, it does make me feel things very deeply in my body. I feel the weather changes. I feel the biometric shifts. If I’m feeling a certain way, then I use that as a cue that people around me might be feeling that way too even though it maybe in a more subtle way.

Yeah, paying attention to the room, paying attention to the way people come into the room. If somebody’s holding their neck or shoulders, then it’s a direct indication for me that they want neck and shoulder work today. Then knowing as many postures or ways of moving as I can, then I can hopefully intuitively know what muscle group is aching or what emotional pathway is aching and try to speak to both.

Joe: I also noticed how you do that with like in your practice like, “Oh, it’s springtime.”

Mark Rutan: Definitely.
Joe: What’s the season? What does that mean? What does that mean for our bodies coming out of “hibernation” or whatever it maybe? I don’t know if there are some people that are very in tune with the way that seasons affect us, but that gentle reminder of like, “Oh, we’re going through this cycle again,” is really… It’s helpful.

Mark Rutan: Again, you’re touching on something that I try to remember in my own practice is those cycles. I notice every spring the same parts of my body will kind of pop out of place and then I need to go pop them back into place. Is that the season or is that what I’m doing, I’m not sure, but it’s probably both. I think there is a rise recently in our collective consciousness of things that are maybe a little bit more spiritual or towards the energy work of things. I think that people have a real desire to come back to some of our roots as humans and let go of some of the hustle and bustle.

Joe: We’re becoming more and… We all are inherently connected through nature, through what we are at our roots. But now in the world that you’re good at steering clear of-

Mark Rutan: The technical world.

Joe: …the technical world where we can be connected to somebody across the world through technology, it’s like if it weren’t for social media, it if weren’t for that interconnectedness, this business, Cured, would not exist. It’s great to be able to connect with people that you haven’t been able to in a long time on Facebook or on Instagram.

Mark Rutan: There’s so much power in-

Joe: There’s so much power in it, but I think that just like the detox or being able to step away from that and to remember what we truly are as humans is really important. I guess I’m curious because you have kids how do you approach technology with your kids?

Mark Rutan: Yeah, it’s a real challenge. The way I view it is that there’s plenty of screens out there and that their childhood is fleeting. There’s plenty of adults out there that learned how to use a tablet, right? While I don’t want to take it away from them because it will be a part of their life, it’s limited. I mean I gave up TV when I was in college and it was one of the best things I ever did. Now we have a TV, but we don’t really watch anything but Jeopardy, right? We get on Netflix and we’ll watch gardening shows or nature shows.

Just like Facebook is a tool or Instagram is a tool to stay connected, it’s not everything that it takes to be connected in the same way that watching a show about butterflies. We can learn so much more about butterflies now than when I was a kid. However, it doesn’t do us any good if we’re not cultivating butterflies, which means planting the right environment, which means allowing that environment to grow. That’s what I do with my kids. I take them outside and we garden. We play and we do a lot of playing.

Joe: I was just going to say that word. I’m glad that you said that because play as adults is… That’s like my biggest work right now. I’ve been fully transparent on this podcast that I’ve been having to go through weekly or biweekly therapy for almost the last year now just to work through more and more of the understanding of like who I am and why I’m the way I am. A lot of it goes back to our childhood. Then I look at the way I am today and one of the biggest things that my therapist will say is like, “Hey, you need to play more.” What is play as adults? I think that that can get very lost in the hustle and the bustle of the world that we live in now.

Some people are really good at it. Don’t get me wrong. This isn’t the case for every single person out there, but that’s like a big issue for me is understanding hey, how do I play and how can I play every single day? Not every single day, but how I can play more? How can I find ways to step away from everything that’s going on and get back to that self that so desires to play, but how do I do that? What does that look like in my life? How do we give that to ourselves?

Mark Rutan: Well, work can be so rewarding. That’s what I think drives us when we work is we like to see those results. Sometimes with play there’s not really… There’s nothing tangible in imagination land.

Joe: Yeah.

Mark Rutan: You know?

Joe: That’s a good point.

Mark Rutan: However, I know after running around in the backyard waving imaginary swords and vanquishing dragons or whatever, I feel different. There is a tangible result. It’s just in a different form than I think we’re used to. A lot of times our society just like see it physically and that’s why Asana practice is so much absorbed by our Western culture. We connect physically to it, but there’s so many other pieces and parts to yoga. It goes beyond what happens on the mat. Part of my practice is remembering that I get rigid. I get super serious. The medicine for me is to let that go. Let my son get so dirty. Let go of the control.

Joe: Let the Cheerios go all over the place.

Mark Rutan: Yeah, let the Cheerios get smashed and let the dog eat them. Because if I try to catch every Cheerio before it hits the ground, then how do I end up?

Joe: Oh, you’re going to be a mess.

Mark Rutan: Frazzled, right?

Joe: Yeah.

Mark Rutan: Where am I wasting or spending my energy? It can be in a lot of ways not just with the kids.

Joe: Yeah. You could do that to yourself a lot.

Mark Rutan: When you’re on your mat, I’m sure you notice then those places maybe where it comes up. If you have frustrations outside, you’re like, “Oh, this feels very similar to when this happened out there.” It’s all about noticing and I think that’s what the physical practice is about is just noticing what’s going on. Oh, this down dog is hard. I don’t like this. What is that about? Do you not like it being hard? Do you not like being challenged? Is it just that day you’re not feeling it?

Joe: Right.

Mark Rutan: There’s no real right or wrong answers. I try to remember that too when I’m teaching.

Joe: I love when you say that, like there’s no right or wrong way to do this. You say that all the time.

Mark Rutan: I want you to be physically protected, physically safe.

Joe: Sure. Yes, of course.

Mark Rutan: I’m not going to ask you to do things that are going to put your joints at risk.

Joe: But like the judge part of that.

Mark Rutan: Certainly, right? Once you’re in it, me to the left a quarter inch, is that really what we’re looking to do or is it more feeling the need to push it to be perfect? That’s I think what we’re trying to look at.

Joe: Yeah. Yeah. It’s amazing how much… I also really like and something that I’ve learned from you is just like the stored energy and where we feel it in our body especially in… I don’t know if it’s more females than males, but how much energy we store in our hips. I can’t say one way or the other.

Mark Rutan: It’s both. I mean that psoas muscle runs right through our guts and in our hips. I think it’s like our bullshit button. When stuff happens, that’s where it goes. I’m constantly working on that. There are maybe differences in where men and women store. I think it’s more just person to person.

Joe: Person to person for sure. For sure. Yeah, I would say that’s correct or how I understand it is well, we’re all just humans. It’s a human experience, right?

Mark Rutan: It’s a human experience to hold onto things.

Joe: Yeah.

Mark Rutan: Sometimes things that aren’t ours.

Joe: Yeah. Over this journey, I really like when you share stories. Even before the podcast we were talking about just how emotions come up in life and allowing yourself to feel things more and more. How do you remind yourself that it’s okay to feel? Because I think that’s really hard.

Mark Rutan: Well, for me now, it’s not… Sometimes not so much a needing of a reminder. I just notice when I feel off and I’m like, “Oh, well, maybe if I cry. Oh yeah, that’s the stuff.” It tends to flow, although I’ll hold onto things and ruminate over something that happened for a long time before I’m able to really process it. It’s kind of like once the flood gates are opened, then now what I’m working on is tempering what’s coming through. If I’m really angry, seeing that anger and either letting the person that I’m with know, “I’m feeling really angry. I think we should come back to this conversation when I’m a little bit more grounded.”

So far that hasn’t really been well-received because it’s like, “Oh, no. You just want to walk away or you want to get out of the conversation”

Joe: Right.

Mark Rutan: Just taking some navigation. If I’m crying, sometimes people don’t want to be around that or it becomes uncomfortable for them because they feel like they need to be upset because I’m upset. But it’s causing me to then be more outgoing with my words and asking questions and letting people know what’s going on so that it’s not such an unknown because those unknowns can be a lot more or they can be bigger than the known things sometimes.

Joe: That’s something I’ve been trying to practice in my relationship is like expressing what’s going on, expressing what’s coming up and then that in turn can help minimize the unknowns. If you express what’s going on or what you’re feeling and then you need to go take some time for yourself or I need to take some time for myself, it’s like okay. We know what’s going on here. There’s not as much unknown. Whatever it is that I need or you need, we can start to understand a little bit better if we do need that separation or that space, but then we can come back together. We agree to that. That happens in every relationship.

Mark Rutan: I think it’s helpful sometimes to take space with the knowledge that you’re coming back to work it out.

Joe: Yes.

Mark Rutan: If it’s just, “Hey, I’m going to take some space,” then who knows if that other person’s going to come back, right?

Joe: Yeah. I fall in that same trap.

Mark Rutan: It’s like an extra little like half second or like a little bit extra effort to just be like, “Oh, and I’m going to come back. We’re going to work this out, but right now I’m still leaving.”

Joe: I love you and I need you, but this is what’s going on. I think that that all comes down to just communication. The thing that just stood out to me that you just said was the rumination and spinning the stories in our head all the time. I’m somebody that does that. I’m not saying that everybody does that.

Mark Rutan: I’m sure that everybody does that.

Joe: But I think a lot of people do that. That can be a gnarly downhill spiral.

Mark Rutan: I mean it’s like the Pandora’s Box. What’s in the box? You don’t want to reach in the box, but do you really want to reach into this box that you don’t know what’s in there? Yeah, it can be kind of scary, but the unknown can be way worst than just opening the box and seeing what’s in there.

Joe: Yeah, exactly.

Mark Rutan: Even if the thing is scary. Even if it’s a big hair spider. Wouldn’t you rather open the box and know that that’s what it is rather than putting your hand in there?

Joe: Oh, yeah. Absolutely. I’d rather see it.

Mark Rutan: Totally.

Joe: That’s I think another part of just this human experience is also like understanding where we have to become comfortable with the unknown. What is this experience and what is our purpose? I think that’s what most people are searching for. It’s like what’s the purpose?

Mark Rutan: It does sometimes feel like we’re just doing and then what’s the end result, what do we get out of this.

Joe: Because we are like… Let’s be real. We are on a rock spinning about a axis hurling through space.

Mark Rutan: Well, we think we are.

Joe: Yeah.

Mark Rutan: Right?

Joe: As far as we know.

Mark Rutan: As much as we know says that. However, who knows if that’s really what’s going on?

Joe: Right.

Mark Rutan: I often hear of people say we’re a projection and this is a hologram. That was one of the things I loved about philosophy and I think that’s where it started with the there’s really no right answers. I found in philosophy you can just keep going and going and going and then it ends up almost like arguing over semantics. Like the meaning of the word the and where that came from. Did they mean it this way or did they mean it that way? If it’s one of the other, then it changes the whole argument. That’s where I checked out. I don’t know if there’s really an answer to that question. Why are we so concerned with solving it?

Joe: Yeah. Well, that’s the thing is like we don’t like the unknown, right?

Mark Rutan: Yeah. Sure. Sure.

Joe: What led you into studying philosophy? Was there something that was like, “Okay. This is what I want. I want to learn more. I want to know more.”

Mark Rutan: Yeah, it was mostly just… There’s a connection with it in psychology. I kind of liked to know where some of the psychological arguments came from. Why are we concerned with the way something sounds or the way something feels? In a philosophical way, is the sound really there? If the tree falls in the forest, is there a sound? If there’s no listener, does it matter? Those kind of ideas have always been just questions that I’ve asked. I always wanted to know what was behind the curtain. I always wanted to know. Philosophy seemed to be that place to go. I got to the end of that rabbit hole, it’s kind of the same answer that I began with. They’re the same question I began with.

You just in a way have to let go and live and be happy. Right now I’m learning to be unattached to people’s reactions which is challenging my notion of being kind because I feel that it’s my duty sometimes to save people from stuff that happens. What I’m realizing is that’s not my job.

Joe: Yeah, it’s not possible.

Mark Rutan: Yeah, it’s not possible.

Joe: I fall in that trap too. I think a lot it boils to a lot of… Well, I can’t even say that that’s a blanket statement either. It’s just like there are people that are rescuers. There are people that are fixers.

Mark Rutan: Totally. We’re a superhero society. We love The Avengers.

Joe: Yeah. Yeah.

Mark Rutan: Right?

Joe: Yeah. Then especially with loved ones or people that we’re close to, we don’t want them to feel pain or suffering or whatever it maybe. Sometimes we feel like we can swoop in and protect that and control that, but a lot of the times we have no control of the outcome.

Mark Rutan: Trying to take responsibility for someone else’s emotions is a real slippery slope. I try to be responsible for my own emotions. If I’m crying, that’s where it comes in for me to say, “Hey, I’m crying because of this or I’m upset because this happened.” That is my responsibility, but it’s not my responsibility to fix if somebody else starts crying.

Joe: Right. What has come up that has taught you or shown you that you need to… The work that you’re saying you’re doing around detaching from somebody else’s reaction or experience. Is there something that has been teaching you that there’s a need for that? Because obviously that’s how we should.

Mark Rutan: I want to be very present with people when they’re going through things. For the reason that I notice it’s difficult for people to be present with me when I’m going through my thing. I don’t know why what’s so important to me, but it is.

Joe: Yeah, because you know what it feels like. Sometimes all we just need is another human being to sit there.

Mark Rutan: Right. Not to fix it. Not to say, “This is what you should do or this is why you’re feeling that way.” Just be like, “You’re crying. I’ll be here if you need me.” That’s I think way more powerful.

Joe: That’s something that I’ve been trying to work through over the last year is just understanding that sometimes that’s all people need is just the presence. They need the presence of another human being and also that they may not understand what you’re going through because that’s another thing that’s hard to sometimes convey. I think that people that have experienced depression and anxiety, and I am one of them, it’s hard to explain to somebody that doesn’t understand depression what depression is. But then it’s also hard to understand if you understand depression and I understand depression, yours might look different than mine looks.

Mark Rutan: Definitely.

Joe: That’s also hard.

Mark Rutan: Around different things. It can feel very different even though from the outside it may look like it expresses the same.

Joe: Right. I mean parts of my life where I had been… Where people would look and say, “Oh, yeah. He’s got it all together. He’s got everything that I want or could I ever ask for or there’s great success.” But on the inside, people have no idea-

Mark Rutan: Sure.

Joe: … of what’s going on. That all just comes back to, I can’t remember if we said this in this podcast or before, but like masks that we wear and facades that we portray that protect us. Kind of like what you were saying with like putting the arms out versus like… There are things that we do to protect us, that we all do. Sometimes it’s hard to even understand that that’s just a survival mechanism of another person.

Mark Rutan: Some of those work like I’m finding as I’m getting older being a parent, a lot of the strategies that worked for me when I was in my 20s and 30s, they’re just not working anymore. It’s like either the universe is tired or whatever. It’s like get some new strategies. Grow up basically. It’s time to grow and evolve.

Joe: That shit’s uncomfortable, man.

Mark Rutan: Right.

Joe: I don’t know if you know who Aubrey Marcus is.

Mark Rutan: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Joe: You do? Okay. He’s somebody I’ve looked up to now for the last couple of years and have kind of…tried to model Cured and this business after a lot of what he’s done. That’s all out of deep appreciation for what he’s done. I look at him and he’s like a human experiment. A lot of what he does is put himself in uncomfortable situations to then come out on the other side and then be like, “Oh, I’m okay. I’m still here. I’m still alive.” Some of it’s a little over the top what he does. Some of it I don’t necessarily subscribe to, but that discomfort whether it be through having a difficult conversation, whether it’d be through doing toast posts and I ask [crosstalk 00:40:29]

But on the other side of that discomfort can be some serious bliss. I think that there has to be a healthy balance of how much comfort and how much discomfort we allow in because does our whole life need to be uncomfortable? Hell no.

Mark Rutan: No. Certainly not.

Joe: No. Not at all. I think that sometimes that’s one of my falling points is, well, let’s just make everything uncomfortable so I grow, grow, grow and grow, but is that an achieving mindset? Can I not…

Mark Rutan: That’s a lot of what is taking place these days where it’s just go and go go and we have to rest. We’re better if we rest honestly. It gives our brains a chance to regrow and prune. I mean it’s just what we’re made to do. I don’t necessarily always understand sleeping, but I know after a really good sleep, I sure feel better.

Joe: I don’t think we should try and understand much more than that, right?

Mark Rutan: But it’s letting go too. It’s like finding that sleep where I’m not thinking about what I have to do tomorrow as I’m falling asleep. When I wake up, “Oh, what’s that thing I was going to do today,” so then I’m carrying it through sleep. It’s like putting the bag down or putting whatever it is, putting the brick down just through the time that we’re sleeping. Then in the morning, yeah, we can pick it up again. It’s a subtle difference.

Joe: That brick is a really good analogy and I think that if we think about wearing a backpack and all the bricks, all the rocks, all the weight that we put in it from trying to carry other people’s stuff, trying to fix, trying to do this, trying to do that.

Mark Rutan: For me it’s should’s.

Joe: Should’s?

Mark Rutan: Yeah. I call it should’s.

Joe: Yeah. Putting it and stop shitting on ourself.

Mark Rutan: Right. Well, then I am. I just am. This is what I’m doing. If I’m living in should, should is like I should have already done it, but I didn’t. For me it was defeating. Getting should out of my vocabulary really helped and allowed me to say I am or I want or I will or on the reverse no, I’m not going to do that.

Joe: Right. Right. Where’s your yoga practice moving right now? How is it evolving? What are you learning in it right now and what’s coming out in your teaching? Is there something that you can kind of point to that you really like to focus on right now?

Mark Rutan: Where I’m at right now is actually consolidating, so practicing teaching less. So that when I’m teaching, there’s more available and then being more consistent on my mat. After having a child, I noticed I’m willing to give up my practice for somebody else to be happy. It’s learning to come back to, again, just saying what I need and making that available on a consistent basis. When I first came into yoga, I was like, “I got to be in the studio everyday.” What I’m realizing that physical practice could be too much. Practicing less so that when I do practice, I’m more available.

Then in the off times doing more restorative and that’s really, really helpful to kind of slow my down my back, slow down the aches and pains and move my brain away from the loudness.

Joe: Well, Mark, I can’t tell you enough how much I appreciate you and how much I appreciate our Wednesday morning moving away from the loud.

Mark Rutan: It’s mutual. It’s very mutual. I love the smaller group and few people to connect with you guys in that way. Then also with our events, connecting to a larger audience.

Joe: Yeah. That was so incredible. We had such amazing feedback from that first event. Those are just going to continue to build and build. I know I talked about it in the beginning of the podcast, but for those of you that are in the Denver area or traveling to the Denver area, that follow Cured via social media, via this podcast, stay on the lookout for our events so you can come experience what we get to experience with Mark on a weekly basis because it actually is… I can’t say I’ve experienced a more grounding yoga flow with anybody else.

Mark Rutan: I appreciate you saying that, Joe. I love teaching and I love connecting.

Joe: That connection is what we all… I think we’re all dying for that.

Mark Rutan: It’s what we’re looking for.

Joe: That’s why we started to create those events. It was like, “What are we trying to do here?” I’m like, “Well, I think I just want people to come together and connect and then enjoy yoga and enjoy what it means to be human and understand that we are social beings and we thrive on that human to human interaction.” That’s a good place to do it. Is that at our wellness events. Stay tuned for more information on all of those. Mark, thank you for-

Mark Rutan: Thank you, Joe.

Joe: …everything that you do and for hopping on the podcast. I’m super excited to share your story with everybody. I always ask at the end how people can get in contact with you. I know you’re not on Instagram, so what’s the best way for somebody to look you up and get in contact with you or learn more about your practice?

Mark Rutan: Got you. Well, I do teach out of Core Power like you said in the Lakewood area. You can find me there Sundays and Mondays in the morning, but connecting to me personally, you can reach out on my Facebook. Certainly I accept messages there. It’s Mark Rutan, R-U-T-A-N. I think we can talk about some more options in the future for getting a hold.

Joe: Keep it simple.

Mark Rutan: I’m super analog. Let’s start with one option and then we’ll go from there.

Joe: Yeah. Honestly I think that’s the best answer of this. I listen to a lot of podcasts and sometimes people ask me where’s the best way to find me. I’m like, “Okay. You go to Cured. You could go to the website. You could go to Instagram.” How about, “You know what? Let’s just stick with one place for now.”

Mark Rutan: Certainly you could get a hold of me through Cured, absolutely.

Joe: Yes. Yes, of course.

Mark Rutan: But Facebook, absolutely. Look me up or send me a message there.

Joe: Thanks, Mark. I appreciate it.

Mark Rutan: Absolutely. Thank you, Joe.