Today we’d like to introduce you to Rowan Neri.
Hi Rowan, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I haven’t always had an anchor. And this freedom has allowed me to set sail. I feel that the less dependent on the past I am, the more I can advance past my idea of myself and go a lot farther with my pursuits as well as shapeshift my personality as I change. Without such a heavy burden it feels so much more is possible. For me, mastery (and lack of) is a great motivator. And I love adrenaline and pushing limits because I am addicted to the feeling of performing, that state where no sense of self exists. The interests that I have most aggressively pursued have been writing, parkour, rock climbing, mountaineering, weightlifting, nutrition, trail running, photography, urban exploring, slacklining, producing music and DJ’ing. I also love movies and used to go on week-long binges at film festivals in Denver.
I am an appreciator of beauty and this has made me a good musician and artist and maybe even a lover and friend; storyteller even, explorer – urban as well as outdoors, but probably a worse technology consultant, which I did for 10+ years.
My story has really accelerated since I left that world behind me for the second time, the first to DJ, and now to be a health and wellness advocate and guide. I just launched my integrative health coaching business, Higher Self Integrative Health, in March 2022 and I also spend a lot of time focusing on my own health and wellness.
And DJ’ing found its way back to me. I am really excited to craft this new sound I am finding, a thread through songs that calls just to me. I think this will be really fun time in my life to try on the new persona, King Savage, a kind of playful deviant but brutal blend of EDM and Bass music that is just leaning more like old school booty house of Chicago or Ghettotech of Detroit but more updated, really raw lyrics over really gritty bass and acid. I’m really excited about this idea.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There was a time in my life when I was really into stoicism. I would take a bus three transfer stops for two hours to get to work just to experience struggle. I would try to sleep without a pillow or blanket or go out for a run whenever it started raining. I think I found early on a guru inside of me. To cope with the loneliness and heaviness of life as a child born into a body that didn’t feel like home. It was isolating, and I found refuge in books. Then music. Then writing. Then friendships. And lovers. And illusions of lovers. And movement, performance, exertion. Work. And coworkers. I had lost my grip on the world during COVID when I lost my coworkers. For a long time my coworkers were the companions I processed life with and presented my shapeshifting reflection to daily. I had relied on an external reflection of myself through interacting with them to feel oriented to what life was; even if that perspective was not one I enjoyed being, it was an orientation I felt. Maybe that is the summation of the experience of life, a collection of reflected perspectives and shifting orientations as we move through it.
As a minimalist, two years into a deep obsession with rock climbing and mountaineering, I had gone two years living without much furniture and no TV. Each weekend was jam packed with outdoor adventures and life came to a screeching halt and I guess I hadn’t expected it. None of us did of course. For me, this ending was actually already transpiring though. I often reach the end of a huge endeavor and have a need to shift gears. I had completed my Alpine Climbing School program with the Colorado Mountain Club where I also volunteered.
In addition to being isolated to my, essentially gear closet of living space, empty of comforts and now without the anchors in my life, climbing/volunteering and the regularity of the friendships of my coworkers, I was battling an issue with my health and feeling really boxed in with the work I was being asked to do at my tech job. I also was having a year of no drinking, decided upon before COVID started – I was deeply committed to seeing this through. Not for health reasons, but as a willpower challenge. I have often done these since my Year of No Fear brand I started in 2017.
I started driving Uber and escaped into a world of what I felt was my way to contribute, to help during the pandemic. I saw this front-line worker role as really something missing for me as a knowledge worker for so many years. Too disconnected from impact, I wasn’t able to see my reflection to know where I was. Like in rock climbing or DJ’ing, two of my passions, you always know where you are; it’s real (or maybe it’s not since there is in both of these a piece that still exists just inside my mind), but it’s in your hands, it’s real-time.
I moved to Kansas City at the end of 2020 and completed my Year of No Fear 2020 challenge to not drink for a year. After that, I met Ted Owens of FlyWheel Fitness (www.facebook.com/flywheelfit)
I was still very lost in my career, but I started to find new ‘coworkers’ as a remote employee still in tech or people in life who took the place of coworkers. Ted, my trainer, the maintenance guy Mike at my building, the coaches and staff and members at OrangeTheory, and now my coworkers at the Vitamin Shoppe where I work part time now since I left tech. My new home here in Kansas City further opened up to me after I found ketamine-assisted psychotherapy as a way to cope with the unbearable existential apathy I was feeling. I am still on this journey. It has been pretty challenging and I really think a lot of people are feeling this way. I often feel like I am holding by a straw but I have new anchors and habits and my business now. And lots of people that love and support me, I am very fortunate.
I honor myself most these days by practicing contribution, by shining my light but making eye contact by smiling and embracing others not necessarily with the mind, or words, but with the calmness of my soul. These things don’t come easy for me.
I am nowhere near perfection and I actively practice self-discipline and infectious positivity on a daily basis. I feel this is how I access the most grace, the greatest gift I provide my clients and the people I interact with.
I take great pride in how hard I push myself and this gift I have been given is the inspiration I can provide others. I know how contagious energy is and I treat this role like a job – not just for myself, but because it can help others too. It’s where I contribute; it’s taken me a long time for me to find how to contribute. My best friends have been with me along the way, letting me know how exciting it is to watch me flourish. And they’re there too when I have my doubts or have too much wind in my sails.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I work part time at the Vitamin Shoppe in Overland Park and I just got certified as an integrative health practitioner and started my practice Higher Self Integrative Health. Next I am getting certified to read diagnostic lab tests. Concierge based and functional medicine is becoming more popular and integrative health is a holistic view of health for the everyday person that may not be able to afford an expensive specialty doctor. Someone to help guide them for anything health related such as detoxification, both of the body, environment, and mind, weight loss, regulating hormones and stress, and anti-aging. For me this also means using HRV (heart rate variability) as a biomarker for my clients. This feedback gives information about stress/hormones, exertion, nutrition, breathwork, and the effects of their supplementation on physiological and psychological health. I love bringing technology and my expertise in supplements to my clients as well as the many modalities I have learned through the Integrative Health Practitioner Institute.
Alright, before we go, can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
I am accepting new clients who want to find the missing link between where they are now and where they want to be.
I am also building a referral network and looking to partner with like-minded individuals in my local community. Many of my clients need more than just a health coach, they need life coaching and personal training or a functional medicine doctor. While I’d love to be everything for them, I realize I do my best work when I can partner with other professionals
I also am a DJ. I play a very aggressive style of bass music that is very fun, originally called booty house out of Chicago, its a more updated version of this and it is such a blast to get to bring this type of energy out of myself creatively. I am open to new bookings and will always be seeking that perfection I have experienced, both as a dancer and behind the decks – where the collctive consciousness becomes one and the air is just soaked with the sound and energy.
Also, I am not attaching myself to expectations or limiting my opportunities in any sense for the time being; as stressful as it is to remain open; I have my good days and bad, swirling with all the infinite possibilities; my Infinite Probability Space. I do a lot of walking and breathwork!!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://rowanneri.me/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rowanmachine_/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/higherselfintegrativehealth/
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/kingsavagesounds
- Other: https://featured.muscleandfitness.com/2022/rowan-neri
Image Credits
Casey Chapman Lovella Insisienmay
