Branden Collinsworth is a Nike Master Trainer, Yoga Teacher, Human Performance Coach and Humanitarian whose journey of curiosity has shaped him into a man of extraordinary empathy and joy for life - much of it shaped by a personal a challenge to read 1,000 books because he knew it would help him unlock a world beyond the streets and generational trauma.
It’s great to love books and the written word and seeing new worlds open up through a writer’s work is thrilling. We know our lives can be transformed through a good book.
Friends - meet Branden Collinsworth, someone who has taken those ideas, and turned them up to eleven.
Branden Collinsworth is a Nike Master Trainer, Yoga Teacher, Human Performance Coach and Humanitarian. He describes his life as a journey “from the streets to the skies.” He comes from a seriously tough upbringing, and also emanates a thrilling love of life and service for others.
One of the major things he credits as shaping his life is his love of reading. So much so he took on a challenge to read 1,000 books because he knew it would help him unlock a world beyond the streets and generational trauma.
Branden’s journey of curiosity has shaped him into a man of extraordinary empathy and joy for life and it comes through in our conversation. There is something in the way he talks about his mother - the clarity of his presence that makes us so excited to welcome him to Tell Me Something True.
If you care about these kinds of conversations, we hope you’ll become a TMST Plus member.
Episode link: https://www.tmstpod.com/episodes/59-branden-collinsworth-on-lessons-learned-from-1000-books
Spotify playlist for this episode:
Here’s the transcript:
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TMST is hosted by Laura McKowen, the bestselling author of We Are The Luckiest and founder of The Luckiest Club. Follow the show and Laura on Instagram.
TMST Branden Collinsworth final
[00:00:00] Laura McKowen: Hey there. It's Laura. Welcome to TM S T so a love of books and the written word have completely shaped my life. I will never stop being thrilled by the way, new worlds can open up through a single book and just the absolute magic that can come through in the written word. Today's guest Brandon Collinsworth has taken those ideas and turned them up to an 11.
[00:00:33] Brandon is a Nike master trainer, yoga teacher, human performance coach, and humanitarian. He describes his life as a journey from the streets to the skies. He comes from a seriously tough upbringing and also emanates this thrilling love. Life and service for others that I don't know, I've seen in many people in my life, [00:01:00] one of the major things he credits as shaping his life is his love of reading so much so that he took on a challenge to read a thousand books because he knew it would help him unlock a world beyond the streets and generational trauma.
[00:01:16] Brandon's journey of curiosity has shaped him into a man of extraordinary empathy and joy for life. And it comes through in this conversation, you can hear how excited I get many points to be connected to him. There is something in the way he talks about his mother, too, the clarity of his presence that makes me so excited to welcome him to this show.
[00:01:39] And to you. If you care about these conversations, I hope you'll become a TMS T plus member. It's those paid members that are the engine behind this project. They. Pay for the cost of making the show and keeping it coming your way. Ad free, you can donate 5, 10, 20 bucks [00:02:00] a month. It makes a massive difference.
[00:02:02] And thank you to all of those who have already done that. You are making it possible for us to bring you this conversation with the lovely and extraordinary Brandon Collins. Here he
[00:02:16] Branden Collinsworth: is
[00:02:27] Laura McKowen: welcome. Brandon it's so I'm so looking forward to
[00:02:29] Branden Collinsworth: this, it's an honor to be here. I'm so excited, Laura. Thank you for having me. So you
[00:02:36] Laura McKowen: told me, um, that a turning point in your life was. You got turned onto reading and you ended up reading about a thousand books. So how did like tell, talk about that moment?
[00:02:50] That, that, that sparked that. And then did you actually decide to read a thousand books? Or are you just like now I'm on a mission?
[00:02:57] Branden Collinsworth: Yeah. So [00:03:00] my mother at four years old had this zany idea that she was going to teach. How to read it work speed. And the way she did that is we would speed read through Dr.
[00:03:11] Seuss books. We would race to see who could like go through Dr. Seuss fastest, like with all like his rhymes and his tongue twisters. And I got really good at reading at a young age. And I kind of lost touch with books growing up on the streets, growing up in and going through the trials and tribulations of just life.
[00:03:30] But when I found myself at my lowest, one of my first low points, one of my first CATA points, and I was trying to figure out how to get out of the ghetto, get out of the streets and really break some of the generational curses and trauma that, that were holding me back. This aha moment came through and it was like, you need to become a voracious reader.
[00:03:52] And I just decided that I was gonna start to read books. It started with this one book called, who moved my [00:04:00] cheese. It's about these two mice who are like presented with these two life paths. Yes. And they had to pick which cheese they wanted. That book led to another book and that led to another, which led to mentors.
[00:04:13] And then mentors started feeding me books. And what I started seeing in real time was that as I shifted my environment shifted, it wasn't even about me leaving my environment. It was like, as I began to amplify myself, I was able to see the amplified opportunities even in the streets. And that became fascinating for me.
[00:04:33] So books almost became an addiction. It was this game. It was like, how much can. Unlocking myself to inevitably unlock my potential. And over the course of 10 years, it ended up turning out to be over a thousand books. At one point it was three to four books a week. Wow. For example, finally, about [00:05:00] four years after I started this journey, I got a job at the wind hotel as a spots ended.
[00:05:05] And this was like my first introduction to like wealth. All of a sudden, all these wealthy guys were coming in there. I was taking care of like coach K and Chris Gardner from the pursuit of happiness. And I had this thing where I would ask them what their favorite book was. Every time they would come in.
[00:05:20] And a lot of times they would stay for three to four days. So if they told me for example, their book was the Alchemist, I would go to Barnes and. I would get it. I would try to read it before they left so I could discuss the book with them and in that space, because they saw I was hungry. They're like, who is this kid?
[00:05:37] Yeah. Let, let, let me share more wisdom and knowledge with them. So books has become an absolute paradigm shifter for me, you know, they say knowledge is power. And when I think back to my ancestry, where. African Americans were once upon a time, not allowed to read because of slave loss and because of [00:06:00] the power of abstract thinking and what books unlocks for me not to read and take advantage of expanding this.
[00:06:08] Would be actually a disrespect to my whole entire lineage. So I take books very, very seriously. And the very fact that we have access to the world's information at the click of a button. Now there's even more of a precedence to like lean in. There really is no excuse. This is so
[00:06:23] Laura McKowen: important. What is your practice of reading?
[00:06:27] And you know, how does one read three to four? Uh, a week if they don't have a lot of money. And, um, because I'm assuming that got expensive, right. Do maybe talk about what it was like then the sort of links you went to to actually consume three to four books a week. And then what it looks like now, like, do you do audio books too?
[00:06:48] Do you, do you know, are you a, a Kindle reader? Are you a regular reader? Cuz you're also kind of traveling a lot. So talk about the, the, the mechanics of reading that much.
[00:06:59] Branden Collinsworth: [00:07:00] Absolutely. So reading is a muscle. And as with any muscle, it will either get stronger or it will atrophy if we don't use it. And the momentum which I call big Mo when big Mo is alive, because one has cultivated the practice yeah.
[00:07:16] Of like leaning into whatever it is, working out reading. Once the momentum starts to roll, it really starts to take on a life of its own. So when I was younger, I really got focused on reading three to four chapters a day. You read three to four chapters a day. You're probably gonna get through two to three books a week.
[00:07:36] That's just inevitable. Somebody told me one time that the average adult after high school only reads one book a year. No. And so I was like, okay, well, so if over, over the course of 10 years, I've only read 10 books. If I read even one book a month, I've. Five five Xed, what they have read. So as a kid [00:08:00] growing up with nothing, I'm just trying to get the advantage.
[00:08:02] I'm trying to like leverage myself and it, and it started to just make sense that I had to put the time in to inevitably unlock myself. Cause I was really behind when I made that choice to like go after books. I was a high school dropout. I was living on the streets. I was addicted to alcohol. I was broke.
[00:08:22] I was considered a waste of talent. So even when I got into the community college, the first two years there, my credits didn't even count because I was so remedial with my math and my English. They were like, wow, you're not even at college level yet. So it took an extreme leap into that space to just get to normal.
[00:08:42] But for those who were just starting out at normal one, it's like, obviously in the age of mass information, it can be hard to focus. What direction one wants to go. I would say find something that you're passionate about, lean in, be a [00:09:00] voracious consumer of that wisdom. And that really directs the course of where it goes, because it's one thing to read without intention.
[00:09:08] It's another thing to be very like focused and intentional. So me at that time, it was self development. Health wellness and fitness and psychology. That's all I consumed. It wasn't really anything. Other than that, no
[00:09:21] Laura McKowen: literature, no novels.
[00:09:24] Branden Collinsworth: There were, there was pieces of literature like the Alchemist, but they all had this undertone of like, let's, let's get you out of the streets now.
[00:09:35] There's there's a lot more literature. Like there's a book called chanam. That is. To me the most incredible piece of literature, I think written in the last 20 years and wow takes place in India. It's huge, but now it's, it's changed a little bit, but once upon a time, I was like, if I don't get out of the streets, if I don't change my life, I'm gonna die.
[00:09:56] So I need to focus all my energy in one. [00:10:00]
[00:10:01] Laura McKowen: I love it so much. As a, as a voracious reader myself, I just, I love it. What does reading over a thousand books do to someone.
[00:10:11] Branden Collinsworth: reading over a thousand books, pulls somebody from generational poverty, generational wounds, generational sabotage to what it's done for me is put me in a space to be an exchange exchanges with world class leaders, world class thought.
[00:10:33] And be at the forefront of some world shifting projects in a span of now it's been 18 years. You know, they say that sometimes it takes 10 years, 15 years, 20 years to be an overnight success. But I can say that why I'm sitting here talking to you today, why I'm able to touch and inspire. The way I do is because of the reading practice that I picked up [00:11:00] 18 years ago.
[00:11:02] As I changed the world changed. You know, what reading does as well is through the power of word. We, we excavate, it's a, it's a inward journey. And through the excavation process and removing all the non-essentials, we inevitably fall into our deepest authenticity. It's valuable because when we are able to show up in our most unique expression that no one else can show up as people need that people want that.
[00:11:31] And, and not only. Propels the world forward, but it, it gives people as Maram Williamson said, as we shine our own light, we give other people the permission to do the same. I feel like books are a part of that journey. And when I think back to even, you know, my ancestry, one of the books that was, uh, game changer for me was the autobiography or the narrative of Frederick Douglass, the autobiography of Frederick Douglas and.[00:12:00]
[00:12:00] His journey from being a slave and being illiterate to teaching himself, to read to inevitably being the first black man to go to the white house and speak out for, you know, social injustices across the United States, for him to go from literally being on a plantation to a distinguished orator and contributor to society.
[00:12:24] It's proof that we have all the tools. and we just have to tune in and use them and we can, we can shift worlds.
[00:12:34] Laura McKowen: So what books do you go back to? We all have ones that we go back to, uh, time and again, you know, that sort of stay with us.
[00:12:43] Branden Collinsworth: Great question. I love this question. First book I read every year, January one, the Alchemist by PLO.
[00:12:52] Kolo. Yeah, it's incredible. Every time I read it, I pick up something. the ability to trust the [00:13:00] universe, to know that I'm on time to know that hard speak is the most important connection. We can have to be able to lean into the omens and lean into our personal legend and know that it's always actually right here.
[00:13:15] You know, the fascinating thing about Santiago is he had the dream under the tree that kicked off the journey, but he realized the treasure was under the tree. That really is what the journey is all about. is that it's all within. So the Alchemist is, is definitely number one. Second. One is, oh, the places will go by Dr.
[00:13:33] Sus.
[00:13:34] Laura McKowen: Oh, love it.
[00:13:36] Branden Collinsworth: Love it. It's a wisdom. It's it's like psychology economics, like travel everything in, in one, in one journey in Dr. Seuss, just he really channeled, um, something special in that book. The third would be. Bury my heart at wounded. Neat. It's by D [00:14:00] brown. He's an investigative journalist that narrates the war stories of the native American culture here.
[00:14:06] And I believe it's really important that in order to know where we are going, we have to know where we come from. And so that book right there really opened my heart and my soul to. The magic that lives in these lands and the power of standing for something and the, and the duty, it means to really walk forward in truth and, and be a voice for the voiceless.
[00:14:32] Yes. The fourth would be Frederick Douglas's autobiography. And just seeing this, seeing this man come. Utter slavery, where you're completely disconnected from the world to him spending a 10 year journey teaching himself, how to read by from newspaper scraps to eventually him abstract thinking to [00:15:00] as he's going on this path, the right allies showing up from all races, like Mrs.
[00:15:06] All his slave master's wife who secretly believed in him. And this idea that once we lean into. Our Dharma, you know, I always say protect the Dharma and the Dharma will protect you. When we lead into the Dharma, all of a sudden it wraps us and it helps sustain quote unquote, big mode to inevitably give us the inertia to go from a place of maybe hopelessness to a place where we've never imagined.
[00:15:38] So those are, those are four books. Really have inspired me on my path.
[00:15:43] Laura McKowen: We had a conversation before we, uh, recorded this and we both very much attached to this concept of Dharma. Talk about your understanding of Dharma, how it's played a role in your life, what you mean by that? Cuz I think it's also not an, a well known term to a lot of people, [00:16:00]
[00:16:00] Branden Collinsworth: right?
[00:16:02] Yeah. So. Leaning in and diving in full course into the yoga world, becoming a yoga teacher. There's a lot of, when did you do that? Yoga speak, yoga speak. Yeah, I left my, so there was a transitory period from, you know, 2002 when I decided to go on the journey and become a racist reader to 2012, where I opened my first.
[00:16:28] and that blew up. So it was 10 years of really nothing happening. Nobody knowing who I was, no validation me, just grinding behind the scenes to 2012. All of a sudden I have a master's degree from the university of Pennsylvania. I'm an Ivy league graduate. I'm a very sought after trainer. I open up a gym that catapults.
[00:16:54] towards getting signed to Nike and becoming, you know, one of the most prolific trainers in the game at that time [00:17:00] to 2016, where I realized with all my success, that I was still pretty much as miserable as I was when I was on the streets before I started the journey. That's what kicked off the journey to go into Bali.
[00:17:11] And me beginning to study yoga and actually exploring the inner space. And so 2014, 1516 was this deep yoga journey. I finally became a yoga teacher in 2016 and the last six years has been a deep study into more Eastern methodology and, and wisdom. And so the term Dharma. in that space is talked about a lot, but for me, it breaks down to essentially divine purpose, but to even go deeper than that, it's this idea that each one of us has encrypted in our DNA in our very essence, a divine plan that is uniquely our own.
[00:17:51] That is nobody else's. And when I say protect the Dharma and the Dharma will protect you. For me, it means that when [00:18:00] we stay true to ourselves, when we stay rooted in our authenticity, when we're walking the walk and that walk is our own walk, nobody else's walk the universe in some mysterious way, says, oh, that person gets it.
[00:18:16] I'm going to continue to be way clearer for this person to continue to become more of themselves. And. A lot of courage that for me, it takes to walk the Dharma for, for everybody because society wants us to conform and conformity is actually the antithesis of Dharma. Dharma is our divine authenticity.
[00:18:41] It's this idea that there never has been and never will be another me, another you, that we are one of one that we come equipped with something sacred and that the world needs what we got. And when we finally lean into that space, That's when it becomes magical. That's when big Mo wakes up in all [00:19:00] his glory, all her glory.
[00:19:01] And we're we find ourselves in, in places and spaces that we never could have imagined. And that's the beauty of the Dharma. It's, it's almost like communing with magic it's here I am. Here's where I want to go. And it also requires an element of surrender. Surrendering is not passive. Surrendering is very active and in that space, the Dharma unfolds, but it takes that initial leap and that initial trust and everything inside us.
[00:19:37] Sometimes our primal instinct that lizard brain wants to play it. It's food, shelter, safety. Am I gonna die? Is everything gonna implode? Am I gonna lose everything? And the answer to that is yes, you may, but you also may fly. There's that quote that says, well, what if I fall? And they're like, well, [00:20:00] well, darling, what, what if you fly?
[00:20:01] And for me, it's actually worth it. I
[00:20:06] Laura McKowen: love talking about Dharma. How do you know if you're in your Dharma? How else can it show up?
[00:20:11] Branden Collinsworth: Such a good question. Such a great question. And I have a multifaceted answer to that. So the first vision that came to me was me and Bali and pulling up to the gas station on my moped and seeing this guy pumping the gas and he had a twinkle in his eyes and this laughter and love that I've never experienced before.
[00:20:37] And I was like, this guy is in his DMA pumping gas. I feel like in a world of influencers and accolades, sometimes we place our divine Dharma in the material. And what I'm learning is that [00:21:00] when we place it in the material, it can always be taken away. It decays. But when we are living. what Maya Angelo said, people are gonna forget what we said.
[00:21:12] People are gonna forget what we did, but they'll never forget how we made them feel when we're living in the space of feeling in love, whether it's for family, whether it's for purpose, whether it's for community that energetic DMIC imprint to me lasts forever. And what I'm learning more and more is that we are these hypersensitive, infinite machines.
[00:21:39] Are so intelligent. And a lot of times we've been cut off from the, the intelligence that we possess. But what I'm learning is that if it makes me expand, go that way. And if it makes me shrink, it's not for me, I feel like. Hm. There's obviously resistance points where we [00:22:00] sometimes gotta lean into the expansiveness, but it just feels differently.
[00:22:04] And the more and more I pull back the layers that are not me, the more and more I'm getting clear on exactly what opens me up and continues to allow the path to be walked rather than what throws me off track. When I used to. go out and drink all the time. When I was in the party scenes, when I was disconnected from my body, when I wasn't living for values, when I was like, just frivolously messy in a lot of ways, it was hard for me to see my DMIC imprint.
[00:22:38] And that's why I always say the work works. The tools. Of gratitude, the tools of values, the tools of visioning, the, the tools of yoga or martial arts or whatever art, whatever brings a person into their power. They are there inevitably to keep us in tune to that DMIC path. And it's a practice each [00:23:00] and every day.
[00:23:00] That's why they call it, you know, a yoga practice each and every day showing up using the tools and inevitably what was once. For example, it used to be hard for me to go out and, and not have a drink. Now it's a power statement. It's like, here I am like, I'm feeling so good. I'm not numbing myself. I'm present with you.
[00:23:22] And that took a lot of courage to like leave behind one reality, to step into a different reality. But I feel like once we get a taste of that new reality, There's no going back.
[00:23:37] Laura McKowen: I love this so much. You are speaking my language and what I was feeling as you talked is that it's just so much more of a felt experience yeah.
[00:23:47] Than what can be expressed in words. And that's why it is so hard to talk about. To me, it correlates so much with truth, telling the truth, hearing the truth, being able to receive it, being able to communicate it and [00:24:00] both the truth. dishonesty lying or uncomfortable. The difference is lying is uncomfortable, but constricting mm.
[00:24:10] And the truth is uncomfortable, but expansive and you know, it, when you feel it, it's, it's very much a felt experience.
[00:24:19] Branden Collinsworth: That's a mic drop. That's a micro
[00:24:25] Laura McKowen: These are things I think about all the time, you know, because it's hard to explain.
[00:24:29] Branden Collinsworth: So, so true. And, you
[00:24:30] Laura McKowen: know, Because you can be wildly uncomfortable. I mean, addiction is uncomfortable, right? Sobriety is uncomfortable, right. But one is expansive. One is constricting. Your body knows your, your spirit knows when you're standing in the lane of your Dharma, even if it's just really, absolutely, really.
[00:24:54] Minimal, you know, even if it's just a little flash,
[00:24:56] Branden Collinsworth: right? Absolutely. I just got chills as you [00:25:00] express that. And it is so true. I think sometimes we don't give ourselves and I'm talking about all of us, even listeners on here, we don't give ourselves enough credit to how tapped and tuned in we really are.
[00:25:15] But if we really ask ourselves, what is it that I need? What is it that I need to shift? And that might be uncomfortable. What is it that I need to change? we, we have the answer. The action is the, the, the hard piece. And, and one thing that I realized is that I couldn't do it alone. I mean, yes, the, the path is something I had to choose to walk, but.
[00:25:40] without the coaches, without the therapists, without the nutritionist, without, you know, we were talking earlier about my, my UFC striking coach out here, who I work with when I looked at all of these great minds that had these unfathomable stories of transformation. When you peel back the layers, they had a tribe, a team of [00:26:00] people holding them to that path, even.
[00:26:03] Space of being uncomfortable. If Muhammad Ali had a team of 20, if LeBron James has a team of 20 all there to help them unlock for us to think that we have to do it alone is, is actually, you know, insanity for us. If, to Le to be able to like lean into community, lean into the support. It helps us navigate the uncomfortable aspects that pop up in the transformation a lot more easier than when we have to do it.
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[00:28:26] Laura McKowen: When we originally talked, you said something really, really beautiful. You said, cuz we had talked about a lot of your, you shared a lot of your story and your struggles. With me. And you said, but I've always been this person mm-hmm and there's an element of that statement that speaks to this understanding of your true nature.
[00:28:46] Let's call it your true nature, who you really are when all of this stuff is stripped away. Do you have anything more to say about that? You know, this, I, I was always this
[00:28:57] Branden Collinsworth: person. So [00:29:00] thinking back along my 37 year journey about to be 38. I always have had this deep connection to my heart that at times was maybe less connected and other times more, more connected now it's like super aligned, but it was always there.
[00:29:25] My mother gave me many gifts. I mean, one of my greatest teachers, but when I was about seven years old, I remember I was in first grade and. Um, miss Yoshida. Miss. Yo Sheta did not like me. No, she hated me. I'm seven years old. And my kindergarten teacher before her Ms. Battle win, she also didn't like me.
[00:29:45] And they would always complain about me. They would try to like, they would just, just, they were so mean. And now I think back of it, I'm like, how are you? A 30, 40 year old, 50 year old teacher. And you're like being mean to a seven year old, like come on. But my mom [00:30:00] told me something one day. I remember I went home and complained.
[00:30:02] I was like, man, these teachers are like horrible. This was miss Yoda. And she was like, I have one rule for you. Brandon, tell those teachers that if they have a problem with you, that you don't have to listen to them, tell them that they need to talk to your mom. And I said like, really? Okay. And so that became like my phrase.
[00:30:26] Anytime any parents had any issues with me. I don't have to listen to you. You gotta talk to my mom anytime, any anytime any teachers said anything to me, I don't have to listen to you. You gotta talk to my mom and I would, I would get in trouble all the time. And my mother never took the side of the teachers.
[00:30:46] She was like, you are not gonna change my child. You are not going to this. Society's already insane enough. But like, I'm gonna ho I'm gonna make sure that a part of him [00:31:00] is protected and that unlocked a rebel in me. And so to this day, if you have a problem with me, you gotta talk to my mom. I don't gotta listen to you.
[00:31:18] Oh my God. I love it so much. So that saved you. So I.
[00:31:23] Laura McKowen: Yeah. Okay. So I wanna like talk about plan on talking about this, but this is like, we all need that person that sees who we really are and is willing to go to bat for us. Right. Tell me about your mom. I mean, that's really what I wanna ask. Like, tell me about your mom.
[00:31:39] Tell me about it. Thank
[00:31:40] Branden Collinsworth: you so much for, for asking that question. My mom is a warrior of the highest caliber and. she's she truly has walked a dharmic path and her Dharma path was her kids. She was a [00:32:00] mother through and through. She wasn't celebrated for any accolades. She wasn't gonna become some CEO of any company, but one thing that she us that I'm so grateful for is.
[00:32:15] There was never a doubt in our mind, even though we were poor, even though we were in poverty, there was never a doubt that she loved us. We, we knew it and it was like, what was beautiful? Was she, she not only loved us, but she, she chose us specifically really chose me because when my mom had me a white woman, white Mormon woman from Utah, that.
[00:32:45] Rebelled against her family, had a baby with a beautiful chocolate black man in Las Vegas. And in the eighties, couldn't really talk about it. When she was nine months [00:33:00] pregnant living with her mom and dad, they found out that she was going to have a black baby and they left her in the apartment by herself nine months pregnant.
[00:33:12] But she. in the eighties, went against the grain as a white woman, raised a multiracial child and did it on her own
[00:33:24] and
[00:33:24] Laura McKowen: being a Mormon. That was my, that was, yeah, that was my, oh my gosh, because I have several friends who were Mormon and, um, that that's really something at that
[00:33:35] Branden Collinsworth: time. I always say that my mom was the most grateful person is the most grateful person that I ever met.
[00:33:41] It didn't matter that we didn. Anything. There were times where we had no money. There were times where we had no food, food stamps, section eight welfare wick, the box of foods, not showing up. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. She, she taught me the chemical power of gratitude, which when I [00:34:00] became successful quote in quotes in our society.
[00:34:04] And I'm in these spaces with these billionaires that have everything, but they can't find a Moreal of gratitude in it. I look back to my mom and I'm just like, thank you, mom, for just instilling that, that in me, when I was 18 years old, as I was making the transition from the streets, she was worried about me because, um, one, she was struggling mentally.
[00:34:27] She had some troubles at that time. And two, the streets were consuming me and I was turning hard, really quick fights in drugs and alcohol mm-hmm there was this program called job Corps and job Corps is like this last opportunity government program where you can go and you can get a GED in high school diploma.
[00:34:48] And I remember my mom like set me down and she was like, I want you to do this, cuz I know that this is gonna be a huge part of your catalyst, your, your, your next step. So in conjunction with the reading, my mother [00:35:00] pushed me into this program called job Corps. Now job Corps is military school, essentially every morning, you're up at 6:00 AM and night you're in bed by seven.
[00:35:09] If you don't follow the rules, you're out. She at that time was homeless. She lost her home and her and my sister were staying at random couches and homeless shelters. She wrote me a letter every day. I was at job court every day I was there. I got a letter in the mail of like, just keep going, keep going.
[00:35:30] And I have all the letters still. And that right there became the, the, the catalyzer. That was the launchpad cuz once I was at job. And I saw that the reading and everything was like really working and I did a college success class and I got like a 2.0 a C and I was like, oh, I can get a C in college. I'm smart enough to actually go to college.
[00:35:56] That was the momentum again, to keep me going and keep me, [00:36:00] keep me on my, my path. So my mom, um, most grateful person, I know one of my best friends ever, never doubted a moment of. My time with her that she loved me and her transitioning. She went out the same way she, she went in, which was really, really powerful.
[00:36:20] It was like, like her final lesson to me.
[00:36:23] Laura McKowen: Oh my gosh. Thank you so much for sharing that really I'm so glad you had her, how that you had each other. Yeah. What a spectacular
[00:36:38] Branden Collinsworth: gift. Yeah. Yeah. You know, Elizabeth and Collinsworth. And luckily she, she gave me her last name too. I
[00:36:48] Laura McKowen: wanna talk about where you are now, what your work is because you talk, your Instagram is what drew me in and, and it's a lot to be drawn in on Instagram, cuz there's just, especially in the sort of [00:37:00] space around.
[00:37:00] There's just a lot of truth stuff, but you, there is something your essence really comes through. I, you can feel that. Honesty there. And you talk, um, about just love coming first, and that can be such a hyperbolic bullshit statement, but I, I know you actually mean it. What do you mean by that?
[00:37:25] Branden Collinsworth: So you're right.
[00:37:28] And it can be so hyper ball. And some people, when they talk about love, they talk about tele tubs and floating through the sky um, with tinker bell. Yeah. And for me, love is so multifaceted and hyper intelligent. And I didn't realize that until I was in Brazil, I was on this journey. I was, uh, you know, traveling the world and was dating.
[00:37:59] One of my twin [00:38:00] flames, life partners, this little Venezuelan fireball. And she broke up with me and my heart was broken and I was in Brazil. And at that time, like her thing was like, you were always quote unquote on your mission, but I never knew what your mission was. And I never felt like I was included in that.
[00:38:19] And she wow. Left me for this just like regular dude. And they're deeply in love. And I was like, but I have all this. Like, what do you mean you're leaving? And it was this like beautiful perspective check that I needed. And I asked myself, I said, what really matters? Because I'm working with all these high profile individuals.
[00:38:44] I'm, you know, speaking at these very prolific companies. And the one thing that everybody wants across the board is love. Everybody wants it doesn't matter where you go in the world, like love is it. And I was told one time that if your mission is not so [00:39:00] big, that you probably will never achieve it, it's not big enough.
[00:39:03] And so I was like, I think my mission is love. I want to understand what love is and I don't wanna understand just the fluffy parts of love. I wanna understand the tough love. I want to understand it in all its capacity, because I feel like love is that love is like a master sense that will not only like pat you on the back, but it will kick you in your chest and put you on the floor.
[00:39:26] Once I declared love is my mission. It was like, the universe was like, oh, you wanna love to be your mission? yeah, that's cute. That's cute. Let's go. And that's what's happened. I've gotten my, my butt kicked. Once I declared that as a mission. There's been times where I'm like, I think I need to take this off my gram.
[00:39:45] I can't declare this anymore, but it's been, it's been so beautiful. And so I feel like what I've been able to like do on my own journey is. [00:40:00] Explore the facets of love, which is inevitably expo, exploring the unique one of a kind miraculousness that we are, and falling in love with that space. And as I've done that and learned to love myself more, that truth resonates with others as well.
[00:40:17] It's the great connector and the beautiful thing about, you know, social media is in sharing that and sharing this idea that we're all the same. Even though we might look different on the outside where all these beautiful miracles trying our best as I share the journey of love. And I think that's one of the things that I've yeah, I've gotten better at over the years is really just sharing my humanity because I'm going through the same shit as everybody else.
[00:40:49] And I'm getting better and better at not hiding it and sharing it as unforgivingly as possible. Yeah. And in that. In that space. I, I feel that [00:41:00] the, it attracts the right people and it actually detracts the people that are not supposed to be in the space of me.
[00:41:07] Laura McKowen: So tell me about what you're doing in the world right now and what you, what you hope to do.
[00:41:12] You said you're, you're a performance coach. What's next. And what are you doing these
[00:41:17] Branden Collinsworth: days? Amazing. Yes. Um, so one. Most cherished passion projects is an app that I'm the founding one of the founding experts for called mind. And it's the first ever social emotional network that democratizes mental health tools.
[00:41:38] I feel like during the pandemic mental health has become a lot more. Talked about and less taboo. And in the space of mind, we mm-hmm two years ago set out to give people access and it's been a journey, you know, 70,000 plus. Subscribers later Forbes magazine doing, you know, a [00:42:00] beautiful article on us, us growing into a company it's been incredible.
[00:42:03] And so in that space, I do two lectures a week. I've done about 160 lectures over the last two years on everything from values to codependency, to, to tribe. It's been incredible. And so mind is, is an incredible resource that anybody can go to. There's some of the best experts in the world on there talking everything about sexuality, to gender norms, to racism, to financial wellbeing.
[00:42:30] It's just been incredible to be able to like, build that gift from scratch. And then I also have. Okay. Rite of passage company called warrior retreats and warrior retreats is a 14 day journey from the Amazon to the Andes. There's nothing really like it in the world. You know, a lot of people, especially at this juncture, they talk about plant medicine and things like that.
[00:42:53] One of the things that I, I wanted to do. I felt like I had a responsibility because I know so many people leaning [00:43:00] into that work is to give them the opportunity to work with it in the right context. So warrior retreats is not a plant medicine retreat, but I give people the opportunity if they choose to, to actually go out into the jungles with the medicine, men harvest their own medicine, make their own medicine and sit with their own medicine.
[00:43:16] And that's one component, but really what makes warrior retreat special is the hospitals and going in and working with terminally ill kids. And it's really funny when I get these influencers down there, it seems like the more followers they have on Instagram, the harder they have of getting the harder of a time they have getting out of the egos and actually leaning into service.
[00:43:36] But it is, it is a place and space that the ego gets checked. And when you see a kid who has a month left to live and he has a smile stretched across his face, it changes people forever. And so. the reason why I continue to do warrior is because the perspective shift and the ripple that comes from that I truly believe is, is [00:44:00] world shifting.
[00:44:02] My last project has been creating Nike yoga, um, over the last three years, you know, when I went to Bali, we, um, I was given the opportunity to. Nike basically funded me for two years to, to research and study in India in Bali and help direct the trajectory of Nike yoga. So I have all my yoga classes on the Nike yoga app.
[00:44:27] It's become its own standalone silo, like Nike running. Um, Nike training, Nike football, and it's, it's just proof again, that everything is possible if we just get out of our own way. And then outside of that, just leaning into coaching. My Instagram is my only website and leading with love, just leading with love and living with love and, and really trying to inspire this world forward.
[00:44:55] The thing I'm most proud about is like just the. The [00:45:00] presence that I'm able to bring into my relationships with my friends and my family. That that's really the most important thing. All that other stuff is just like ancillary, but like dropping in with people that matter most to me is, is actually most important.
[00:45:15] it's amazing
[00:45:15] Laura McKowen: to talk to you. I'm so grateful that we crossed paths truly. And, uh, I look forward to like what El, what else comes? You know, I, I can't, I'm happy to be following your, your path and some small part of it. So thank you so much for being here. Thank
[00:45:30] Branden Collinsworth: you.
[00:45:41] Laura McKowen: Thank you for being with us today. If you want more TMS T head on over to TMS T pod.com and become a member. Members get access to the full uncut versions of these conversations. Opportunities to submit questions for AMAs and invites [00:46:00] to join me for members only events we decided from the beginning to make this an independent project, we don't have sponsors and we don't run ads.
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