In the latest episode of Juicy Bits, our CEO Jen Gurecki sat down with Kiran Gandhi aka Madame Gandhi to talk about flow state, hitting 10,000 hours, bravery, and the life experiences that got them to where they are at now. You won't want to miss this conversation between two friends who found each other through their shared passions of social justice and snowboarding. Scroll to the bottom to listen to this episode of Juicy Bits and then head on over to madamegandhi.com to listen to her latest album, get the latest tour dates, and discover more about this artist, musician, activist, and athlete.

How does flow exist in your life and in your creative endeavors?

So, one such a good question. It's, I think it's that feeling that we are all actively striving and seeking. And I think that was the reason why I was drawn to snowboarding and the reason why we try to get better at any skill set technically so that we can arrive at flow state by just being good at what we do.
As a drummer, I used to study all the paradidels, all of the different licks and combinations, all of the technique so that when I'm just playing freely, I have these tools in my arsenal to express myself and arrive at that flow state.
So it's exactly that. And my happiest moments are in flow state when I'm not looking at the clock when I'm not thinking about anything else that I'm fully immersed in present.

It's love energy. It's your goddess, God energy. It's your creativity.

So, because I'm so aware of that feeling, I do feel I'm actively seeking it and snowboarding with such an exciting way for me to get back into that feeling and re-energize it in my creativity.

I think the answer to your question for me lies in I actively use sports to remind myself of that feeling and then bring it into my music and then because I've experienced it as a musician as a producer as a drummer. I know how to tap into that feeling in my sports.

Some of the lessons that I've learned are patience, you know, the first five, ten minutes, sometimes we get greedy with flow state, we're like, oh, like, I'm not focused. I've lost it, you know, but you have to be willing to play the long game. You know, for me, my long runs, like my big dreams and goals start to form once I've passed the third and fourth and fifth mile marker. Like that's only what's almost like you have to earn it like you feel like unlock flow state by like being fit enough or talented enough or technical enough to even arrive there.

And in a way, that's the motivation. So the first thing is patience. And then the second is surrender. A lot of us have the judgment voice. Man, like, you look awkward when you're snowboarding. I definitely had my period like my phases with that falling so much.

You have to have this kind of ability to turn the knob down on the negative voices on the judgmental voices and say, no, but I understand I'm on the journey to something greater.

And then I think the third thing is just continuing to be in service of the craft. Keep coming back, humbly like snowboarding. It humbles you. You think you're shredding and then boom, you're already on your booty. Like within one second, you're the goddess and then the next minute you're humbled.

I think that's a joy.

Let's talk about bravery. How do you summon that bravery before you go on stage, put yourself out there, and mentally prepare to perform in front of hundreds and thousands of people?

You know I've seen the detrimental effects of hearing other people's judgmental voices and what that does is it prevents you from going on the stage altogether it would prevent you from getting on the snowboard altogether it would prevent you from running a marathon like it's these are this is we only get one life I want to live fully I want to live to the max and I know it's messy and so the biggest lesson that I've learned is that fear voice that everyone has it really is so debilitating and it's the opposite of freedom and I'm really interested in freedom and freedom looks messy freedom looks playful freedom looks kind to the south.

And on the other side of that bravery is we're all the good good lies all of the improvement so I've had terrible public speaking like back in the day before I let go of alcohol. I remember like I wanted to my first Ted talk I like went straight to the bar I'm like had like chug like three beers because I just wanted to completely forget about the vulnerable embarrassing experience.

But you get better only by doing is is the point and so I don't mind looking messy I don't mind having bad shows because these are on the way to the good good.

And it's all it's there's not one thing that is the thing like everything is part of a super journey and I think so like sometimes we get in our heads of this is the thing that I'm doing well maybe if you're going to die tomorrow that might be the ultimate last thing that you're doing.

Ideally we get to stick around longer and one it's just another part of all the amazing things that we get to do and so it's almost like we we shouldn't put that much pressure on any one particular event or experience because we don't we don't actually know what's what comes next.