The Rich Roll Podcast

Today I sit down with actor Jamie Dornan and filmmaker Sacha Gervasi, a man I love dearly and have known for over 20 years, to discuss their recent collaboration — My Dinner With Hervé, a brilliant new film premiering October 20 on HBO. Marking his 2nd appearance on the show (his first being episode 249 two years ago), Sacha's credits include scripting The Terminal, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Hanks. In 2012, Sacha directed Hitchcock starring Anthony Hopkins and last year helmed November Criminals featuring Ansel Elgort and Chloë Grace Moretz. But Sacha is perhaps best known for Anvil! The Story of Anvil, his Emmy and Independent Spirit Award winning, real-life Spinal Tap rockumentary about an also-ran Canadian heavy metal band that many critics consider one of the greatest films ever made about rock and roll. Anvil explored what it means to never give up on a dream. Hervé picks up where Anvil leaves off, exploring the darker aspects of lofty dreams realized in a tragic comedy that lays bar

Today's episode features a conversation conducted before a live audience at the Laemmle Royal Theatre in Los Angles with acclaimed British ultra-runner Fiona Oakes and friend, multiple podcast guest and filmmaker Keegan Kuhn — one-half of the team behind both Cowspiracy & What The Health. Vegan since she was 6 years old, Fiona is an extraordinary athlete and exemplary human hailing from the UK who holds four world records for marathon running. Perhaps best known as the world’s fastest woman to run a marathon on all seven continents and the North Pole, in 2013 Fiona won both the Antarctic Ice Marathon and the North Pole Marathon. But what makes her accomplishments all the more amazing is that at age 14 she was told she would never walk properly, let alone run, due to an illness that required more than 17 radical knee surgeries that culminated in the removal of her entire right knee cap. This week marks the release of this dynamic duo's latest creative collaboration, a new documentary entitled Running For Good.

As every parent will attest, it's so easy to sublimate one’s self care for the interest of a child’s needs – it’s basically programmed into our DNA. Intellectually we understand you can’t truly take care of another unless you attend to your own well-being first. But this idea runs counter to every parental instinct, making it very difficult to practice this important principle. It feels selfish. But our selfless intentions, albeit good, can lead us astray. Not only do they undermine our well-being, they're not in our kids' interest either — because an unhappy parent does not a happy child make. This is a solid solid life lesson, whether you have children or not. So let's talk about it. While the vast majority of parenting advice focuses on raising happy children, today's conversation flips the lens to concentrate on the radical, almost verboten subject of how to be a happier parent. To walk us through this hornet's nest is KJ Dell’Antonia, a former New York Times reporter who wrote and edited the Motherlode b

The late Anthony Bourdain once said, “Travel changes you. As you move through this life and this world you change things slightly, you leave marks behind, however small. And in return, life – and travel – leaves marks on you. Most of the time, those marks – on your body or on your heart – are beautiful. Often, though, they hurt.” I think this quote beautifully captures the ethos of today's conversation. Travel as an agitator of self-understanding. A template to deeply explore the deep intertwined relationship that lives and breathes in that beautiful space between adventure and identity. Our cipher for this transcendent voyage — how exterior horizons influence scrutiny of our interior landscape — is many things: author, global adventurer, social entrepreneur, human rights activist, lawyer, filmmaker, and magazine publisher. But labels fail to capture what makes Jedidiah Jenkins special. Let's just call him beautiful human. I can’t quite recall how today's guest first came across my radar. What I do remember i

What is running culture? I suppose the answer depends upon whom you ask. For example, Sanjay Rawal's perspective will likely vary from that of Shalane Flanagan. If you ask Knox Robinson, his definition will have little to do with splits and podiums — and everything to do with movement as an art form. Running as a means of personal and philosophical expression. The physical voice of literature. Poetry. Music. And Politics. For Knox, running as an act of rebellion — a means to unshackle oneself from pressures and expectations both external and internal. Freedom from the lies others tell us. And liberty from the lies we tell ourselves. This week he explains. You're not going to want to miss it. Based in New York City, Knox isn’t just a great runner and coach. He isn't just a great writer. And he isn’t just the co-founder and captain of Black Roses NYC — a diverse & heavily tattooed collective of amateur New York City runners who routinely gather to hammer out intervals through downtown Manhattan then go slurp r

Welcome to another edition Guru Corner — a spiritual version of my popular Coach's Corner series featuring my favorite teacher on all things mystic and metaphysical, Guru Singh. For those new to the show, imagine a modern-day Gandalf who rocks like Hendrix while dropping pearls of wisdom that beautifully fuse Eastern mysticism with Western pragmatism. A celebrated third-generation Sikh yogi, master spiritual teacher, author, and musician, for the past 40 years Guru Singh has been studying and teaching Kundalini Yoga. He is the author of several books, a powerful lecturer and behind-the-scenes guide to many a luminary, including Fortune 500 CEOs, athletes, and artists. A peer of rock legends like Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead, Guru Singh is also a supremely talented musician who began his recording career on Warner Bros’ Reprise label in the 1960s. When he isn’t recording tracks with people like Seal, he’s bringing down the house on the daily at Yoga West, his Los Angeles home base. Over the last couple

What is the relationship between history and biology? What is the essential difference between Homo sapiens and other animals? Is there justice in history? Does history have a direction? Did people become happier as history unfolded? What ethical questions do science and technology raise in the 21st century? These are the queries that compel Yuval Noah Harari – a man unafraid to tackle the biggest questions of our time. For those unfamiliar, Yuval is a renown historian who received his PhD from the University of Oxford in 2002 and is currently a lecturer at the Department of History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. But Yuval is best known as the author of three groundbreaking, massive bestsellers. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind* is a narrative of humanity’s creation and evolution —a #1 international hit that explores the ways in which biology and history have defined us and enhanced our understanding of what it means to be “human.” A worldwide sensation recommended by Barack Obama, Bill Gates and

When we ponder health, we tend to think about things like diet and exercise. Overlooked in this conversation is the primacy of hormone regulation. Chemical messengers that control almost all biological functions — from hunger to mood and everything in between — hormones play a massive role in overall well-being. When properly balanced, we function at our best. But should they fall out of whack, we become susceptible to everything we endeavor to avoid: weight gain, depression, poor energy, impaired sleep and a litany of chronic lifestyle diseases to name just a few. So let's stop overlooking this critical aspect of wellness. Today's maestro for all things hormonal is Mike Mahler — a human specimen of strength and power whose personal expertise in hormone optimization was catalyzed by an acute health crisis he struggled mightily to solve. Perhaps best known as one of the leading experts on effective kettlebell training for size, strength, fat loss and conditioning, Mike is a renown strength coach with a special

This episode features the audio from a live event I hosted this past summer at Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin with Stephen & David Flynn of The Happy Pear. Long-time listeners will well remember David and Stephen from #RRP 233, one of my most popular episodes of 2016. Since then the lads have made two subsequent appearances on the show in episodes 331 and 380. For those newer to the show, The Happy Pear are the joined-at-the-hip identical twin brothers behind a family run chain of natural food stores and cafés in Ireland as well as a line of organic, locally harvested plant-based food products available across the UK. The face and voice of Ireland's quickly growing healthy food revolution, the twins are omnipresent on social media and the bestselling authors behind a series of runaway smash-hit plant-based cookbooks, including The Happy Pear* (of course), World of the Happy Pear*, and their most recent release, The Happy Pear: Recipes for Happiness*. Today's exchange opens with an extended monologue on the po

Most contemplate running as exercise. A physical practice we reluctantly endure. An uncomfortable discipline we tolerate for the sake of fitness. For weight loss. Or to competitively measure ourselves against ourselves and others. Running is about metrics. Pace maintained. Distance covered. Calories burned. Energy expended. And results quantified. But ask Sanjay Rawal and he'll tell you that definition isn't just limited — it misses the point altogether. Running is so much more than podiums and aesthetics. At its core, it's a most primal activity that unites us all. It's about growth. It's about self-understanding. And for many cultures dating back millennia, it's about spiritual growth. Survival. Healing. And even transcendence. Running as devotion. Today Sanjay and I explore this theme in a riveting conversation focused on the inherent and indelible power of this shared human experience to better understand ourselves, our environment and the unseen world. A graduate of U.C. Berkeley with a B.A. in Molecula

Back by popular demand, my main man and provocateur-at-large John Joseph returns for his 6th appearance on the show to share more of his extraordinary story. A story that lays bare the indelible power of the human spirit to face and transcend unimaginable obstacles and ultimately transform one’s life wholesale. If you’re a longtime listener, Johnny Bloodclot needs no introduction. For the uninitiated, John is a sui generis American original. The very definition of hardcore. A survivor. A spiritual warrior spouting straight talk directly from the streets of the Lower East Side with one singular, driving purpose: getting people to wake the f&*k up. Conceived and raised in abuse, deprived of opportunity and left to his own devices, John turned to violence and drugs on the rough and tumble streets of downtown Manhattan in the 1970's — during New York's most violent decade. It’s a path that predictably led to crime, addiction and incarceration. Spending his teens as a drug mule led to a series of unsavory foster c

Today's podcast is the latest installment in my ongoing series of ponderous mind melds with the wise and profound Julie Piatt — aka SriMati — my wife and in-house spiritual guru. For those new to the show, Julie is the bestselling author of three vegan cookbooks as well as an accomplished yogi, healer, musician, mom to four and host of the Divine Throughline podcast, where she muses metaphysical on living a life divine. This is an open exchange that explores a number a themes: * Recalibration in the aftermath of an extended period of creative output; * Self-care and the growth that occurs when we hit pause; * Navigating financial hardship; * Practices to amplify creativity and authenticity * The importance of owning your path * Julie's unique morning routine * Healthy relationships and the broken prince-princess paradigm * The lost art & power of ceremony and ritual; and * how my sleeping in a tent impacts our marriage and intimacy I sincerely hope you enjoy the offering. Peace + Plants, Rich

Tony Hawk was age 9 when his older brother gave him a blue fiberglass skateboard, chipped and scratched from years of use. The first time Tony stepped on it and rolled down an alley behind the family’s house in San Diego, there was no epiphany, no revelation, no foreshadowing whatsoever that he would go on to become the most famous skateboarder of all time. He reached the end driveway, looked back at his brother and shouted, “How do I turn?” The yarn is both sweet and innocent. But it's also deeply illustrative of the mindset — a unique melding of childlike wonder and unrelenting workmanship — that still drives the single most recognized and influential skateboarder of all time: Keep moving forward. Always be learning. Do what you love. And the rest will follow. The tale of The Birdman is legend. Icon status. A billion dollar video game franchise. A litany of successful brands. A family man and philanthropist. But the story behind Tony Hawk is hardly linear. And it's a legacy that — at 50 — he continues to bu

But where do you get your protein? I get this question a lot. Today's guest probably gets it more than anyone on Earth. A sweetheart of a guy rocking one of the world's most impressive physiques, this week's guest is an IFBB Professional Men’s Physique bodybuilder with a most unexpected twist: Nimai Delgado has never eaten meat in his entire life. Not one bite. Raised vegetarian since birth, Nimai switched to a 100% plant based unprocessed diet in 2015, motivated by a desire to live the healthiest lifestyle possible. Not long after, his bodybuilding career skyrocketed. Proving animal products unnecessary for peak fitness, Nimai is indisputable living testimony that you can indeed build tremendous strength and muscle mass without the meat and dairy products most of us have been told our whole lives are critical for health and absolutely mandatory athletic performance. Nimai's evolution into bodybuilding began as a personal mission to make friends, get fit and stay healthy. Success came swiftly. Within a year,

Welcome to another special mid-week conversation lifted from our recent retreat in Italy featuring Colin Hudon and Jennifer Ayres. Wise beyond his years, Colin is a physician of Traditional Chinese Medicine as well as a talented herbalist, acupuncturist, tea master, and founder of Living Tea, which sources and imports the finest and rarest old-growth teas and teaware in the world. A gift to humanity, Jennifer is an Ayurvedic Health Practitioner and teacher certified by perhaps the world’s most lauded Ayurvedic doctor, writer, and teacher Dr. Vasant Lad. Longtime listeners will recall both of these friends and incredible humans have previously graced the show. If you're new to the podcast and enjoy today's exchange I urge you to check out Colin & Jennifer together in an episode entitled Heal Thyself (RRP #261) and Colin alone from (RRP #319). Today they reunite to share a wide variety of insights on the benefits of supplementing our Western approach to medicine with ancient Chinese and Ayurvedic approaches to

One minute you're a heart surgeon. Blink once and you're hosting the most watched television program in Middle East history. Blink again and you're exiled from the homeland that made you famous. The story of Bassem Youssef is legend. But there's far more to this tale than meets the eye. Dubbed the Jon Stewart of the Arab World, today's guest is an Egyptian cardiothoracic surgeon and member of the Royal College of Surgeons who caught lightning in a bottle making catchy 5-minute YouTube videos in his Cairo laundry room. A flash moment later, he’s a media mega-star, the man behind a controversial, first-of-it’s-kind political satire program entitled Al-Bernameg that garnered a massive and unprecedented 30 million viewers every week. Insightful as it was incisive, Al-Bernameg received global acclaim and coverage in some of the world's biggest media outlets, culminating in Bassem appearing on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart – twice. But Bassem's bold criticism of the ruling powers led to accusations that he was di

What's it like to explore the planet's hidden corners treasure hunting for the world's greatest edible food sources? Meet the Superman of Superfoods. One of my most popular guests, Darin Olien (@superlifeliving) returns for his third appearance on the podcast to delve deep on next level nutrition insights gleaned from his extraordinary adventures as a renown exotic superfoods hunter, wellness advocate, supplement formulator & ardent environmental activist. Over the last twenty plus years, Darin has reconnoitered secluded pockets across the Americas, South Pacific and Asia questing for better, more natural pathways to ultimate wellness. After communing with thousands of rural farmers across the developing world, Darin has arrived upon his latest superfood obsession: the baru nut — an exotic incredibly nutrient rich superfood known to the indigenous tribes of the Brazilian Cerrado for millennia, yet virtually unheard of anywhere else. Crazy delicious bordering on addictive, the Barùkas (derived from the Baruzie

Conducted live during our recent Plantpower Italia retreat, this special mid-week edition of the podcast features my third conversation with Stephen & David Flynn. Longtime listeners are well-acquainted with these Irish laddies. Stephen and David first appeared on the show back in June 2016 (#RRP 233) and again in November 2017 (RRP #331), a conversation captured before a live audience at Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin. For those newer to the show, David and Stephen are the joined-at-the-hip identical twin brothers behind The Happy Pear, a family run chain of natural food stores and cafés in Ireland as well as a robust line of organic, locally harvested plant-based food products available across the UK. The face and voice of Ireland's quickly growing healthy food revolution, the twins are omnipresent on social media and the bestselling authors behind a series of runaway smash-hit plant-based cookbooks, including The Happy Pear* (of course), World of the Happy Pear*, and their most recent release, The Happy Pe

I can say without equivocation John McAvoy's story of metamorphosis is one of the most compelling, improbable, inspirational, and cinematic tales I have ever heard. Born into a notorious London crime family — think The Sopranos meets The Krays — John is a former high profile armed robber who bought his first gun at 16 and quickly became one of Britain's most successful career criminals and most-wanted men. But it took two spells in prison and a close friend's death amidst a heist gone awry to birth a desire to change — redemption he ultimately discovered through the transformative power of sport. Pulling one of the most improbable 180-degree life transformations of all time, John's greatest heist isn't a bank — it's his life. While serving a double life sentence on the Belmarsh high security wing — space he shared with extremist cleric Abu Hamza and the 7/7 bombers — John decided to take a spin on the prison gym's indoor rowing machine. That experience revealed a unmistakable fact — John's freakish natural ap

Imagine yourself alone in the Montana backcountry. You're doing what you love — camping, hiking and simply enjoying the wilderness — when you stumble upon a rusted old relic. An old oil drum perhaps. Curious, you approach and peer inside to discover the remnants of a long-dead black bear cub. You set down your backpack and reach inside to further investigate. What happened next would forever alter the life of this week’s guest – a flash of electricity so intense it should have instantly killed this young man of 30. 2400 volts that seared his insides, utterly destroyed his left arm, left his body with 9 severe exit wounds and delivered him to the ICU little more than a dead man with a heartbeat. Eduardo Garcia would spend 48 days in intensive care. He would undergo 21 surgeries that would claim four ribs, a ton of muscle mass, and even his left arm. On top of everything else, he would be diagnosed with testicular cancer. But against all odds, Eduardo survived. A chef by trade, Eduardo began his career at 15 be