246: Vegan Zone of Brilliance | Elevate Your Vegan Impact with Vegan Life Coach Jun Fuchs

[00:00:00] Jun Fuchs: Creating change through vibrating a different frequency is what I help my vegan global family do. And not only the vegans; there's activists of any kind we have and environmentalists. We have social rights activists, we have human rights activists, we have people that are all at once. Because how can you not?

[00:00:20] Maya Acosta: You have more power over your health than what you've been told. This is the Healthy Lifestyle Solutions podcast. I'm Maya Acosta, and I'm passionate about finding healthy lifestyle solutions to support optimal human health. If you're willing to go with me together, we can discover how simple lifestyle choices can help improve our quality of life.

[00:00:41] Maya Acosta: And increase longevity in a big way. Let's get started. Jun Fuchs is a vegan life coach who helps people to heal and transform their lives. Jun is based in Bali, Indonesia, and offers courses, retreats, and one-on-one coaching. Jun works towards guiding his clients to their vegan zone of brilliance. The vegan zone of brilliance is where one can shine with his or her talents, uniqueness, and charisma, thus having a more positive impact.

[00:01:12] Maya Acosta: He's passionate about supporting vegan activists who are experiencing burnout or being greatly afflicted by their work. A couple of days after my conversation with Jun, vegan activist James Aspey released a YouTube video explaining why he had not been present over the past year. He not only experienced burnout but was afflicted with physical pain that kept him from being his best self.

[00:01:35] Maya Acosta: James shares that he is now doing the inner work to heal his body. If you have not seen that video, please go check it out on YouTube. Just simply look up James Aspey. And this is sort of the work that Jun does in supporting vegans to self-care. Now, Jun also has a 360 veganism, a mastermind group that he is going to resume in 2023.

[00:01:58] Maya Acosta: It's called 360 Veganism Mastermind, and he offers us a 20% discount. To all of my listeners, if you're interested in joining that mastermind, I'm going to include a link in the show notes. Stay tuned to learn how Jun can support your work as a vegan. Let's get started and also, as always, the full bio and the links to each of my guests can be found on the website healthy lifestyle solutions.org.

[00:02:24] Maya Acosta: Welcome, Jun.

[00:02:25] Jun Fuchs: Hey, Maya. Thank you so much for that introduction.

[00:02:29] Maya Acosta: Well, yes, and thank you for being available. Tell us where you are at and a little bit about yourself because I know there's a significant time difference. It's 12:00 AM or, well, now, 12:00 PM for me. Where, And it's 1:00 AM for you. I think.

[00:02:45] Jun Fuchs:  That is correct. Yeah. I am based in Bali, Indonesia, and we have in the middle of the night right now. So I was sleeping before this podcast just to get some good rest in. Yeah, I live here in, uh, Bali, Indonesia, and I do live here because I love tropical weather. I love surfing, and I love to have access to the ocean. And, uh, everything else you basically just said in the introduction about me.

[00:03:11] Jun Fuchs: So I'm super excited to get started and to answer some great questions and to reach to people that are listening to this. Hello everyone.

[00:03:19] Maya Acosta: Yes, Absolutely. Right. So now something that you, I mentioned in the bio that I'm very interested in is this whole idea of using mindfulness to kind of help elevate the vegan impact and also how you talked about doing the inner work.

[00:03:34] Maya Acosta: And that is absolutely so important. I talk about this a lot on the podcast, that our willingness to do in a work, in general, can help not only improve our health but improve the health of the planet. So let's start with your story. Have you always been in Bali? How long have you been in Bali, but most importantly, how did you become vegan?

[00:03:53] Maya Acosta: And then, and then I'm assuming that that work or becoming vegan then led you to doing the work that you're doing today.

[00:04:00] Jun Fuchs: Indeed, Becoming vegan was an initial part of, uh, my initiation into becoming a life coach. I'm not Balinese. I'm not originally from Indonesia, so I did grow up in Switzerland, and I come from a background of studying graphic design, working nine to five.

[00:04:19] Jun Fuchs: And there was also a time in my life where I actually worked at McDonald's. So there was a really big shift happening throughout my life journey, coming from McDonald's employee, working nine to five, studying graphic design, and realizing that living in this society or in this construct, facing a screen over eight hours a day, being at one place most of the time in the day.

[00:04:44] Jun Fuchs: It was not my thing. And I know it works for some people, but it didn't work for me. So I was always having an eye out on alternative ways of living. And in 2017, I discovered that veganism was a part of my truth, and I started embodying that and through. Development and through making that choice, I also did realize that ethics mattered a lot to me, and they didn't only matter with what I had on plate and what I would eat, but also they mattered a lot in how I would spend my time and who I would spend my time with.

[00:05:21] Jun Fuchs: So I became more mindful around these topics. I've changed the social environment. I changed my friendship circles, and I did let go of some people in my life, and I invited new people in my life. I did let go of some hobbies, and I invited new activities into my life and essentially fasting forward or forwarding faster in that movie of my life, I ended up making the choice to move out of my home country.

[00:05:53] Jun Fuchs: Switzerland. And to leave behind a steady nine-to-five, a steady income, and a society that would support me. And I chose adventure. And adventure for me was awaiting on the other side of the world in big ocean waves, learning how to surf in retreats, doing the inner emotional work, developing myself as a human, as a being.

[00:06:17] Jun Fuchs: And Bali, Indonesia offered me more of that than Switzerland ever has for me. And that was one of the big shifts in my life that has led me to come to Bali. And also meeting people here that were like us, finding alternative ways of living, making a living, and thriving whilst doing so. So, um, the communities here have also inspired me to embark on a journey and to eventually become a life coach, a guide, and a mentor for others.

[00:06:51] Maya Acosta: Thank you. Question about Switzerland and the vegan movement. What is that like today? I don't know how long you've been gone. I think around 2017 is when you sort of woke up to this reality of the vegan world that we don't need to consume animals to be healthy. But what did you find before you left Switzerland?

[00:07:10] Maya Acosta: Were there options? What's the movement like over there? 

[00:07:14] Jun Fuchs: It was, actually, quite beautiful. So there were a lot of demonstrations happening, and also outside of the vegan activism scene, the supermarkets were, you know, providing more and more vegan options every single. Month, I could see in the shelves there was a new vegan cheese.

[00:07:34] Jun Fuchs: There was actually probably one of the best vegan, plant-based cheeses that has ever been created. A friend of mine made them, the company is called New Roots, and they made it into the supermarket shelves just shortly before I moved out of Switzerland and moved over to Bali. So the vegan movement, I would say it's thriving in Switzer.

[00:07:57] Jun Fuchs: Actually, yeah. On the other hand, Switzerland, of course, is known as the country of cheese and milk chocolate. So there is a lot of work to do when it comes to educating the more countryside of Switzerland around we can live on a plant-based and vegan diet and be healthy and be happy. And don't even have to let go of these traditions.

[00:08:19] Jun Fuchs: There's a lot of tradition in Switzerland around animal-based food, so having these two parts in mind, I look back on a country that is developing fast when it comes around or when it comes to plant-based food and vegan food, and the movement and the communities, yet at the same time a strong counter, counterpole or a counter community.

[00:08:46] Jun Fuchs: So Switzerland has this very proper image towards the outside world. Very neutral, but living in it, I've experienced it as actually very, very political, like very strong political parties having opinions against each other's opinions. So there's these two strong counterparts. But as I said, just before I left, then I left for good in 2019.

[00:09:12] Jun Fuchs: I haven't been back in Switzerland since December 2019, and the movement that I've observed was thriving in my experience.

[00:09:19] Maya Acosta: Well, that's encouraging to hear. And Bali's been calling me for so many years, and so one day, I'll make it out there. And you mentioned retreats and other things that happen in Bali, you feel like you're surrounded by more like-minded individuals who are on a path, on a journey towards health and wellness and just spirituality.

[00:09:40] Maya Acosta: So, tell us about the work that you do. How did you get started? Who do you work with? Mindfulness, like I said, is very important to us as well.

[00:09:48] Jun Fuchs: How did I get started? That's a really beautiful story because when I came to Bali, Didn't immediately start coaching and guiding people. I was so much on my own journey, discovering trauma work, discovering my emotional landscape and experiences I had in the past that just needed some more love and attention.

[00:10:10] Jun Fuchs: Inner child healing, for example, And I came here. Also, because I was in an, uh, loving relationship with an Indonesian man for a time before I decided to move here for Good, and shortly after I moved here, that relationship ended because it was just a very, very toxic environment, and that initiated a process where I opened my myself up to visit different retreats and visits.

[00:10:39] Jun Fuchs: And like workshops and courses around breath work around de armoring work around body work and mindset work. And so, I didn't start immediately as a coach because how can you guide someone if you haven't allowed yourself to be guided? And how can you coach someone if you, you know, don't know the process of being coached yourself?

[00:11:03] Jun Fuchs: So first of all, I needed to allow myself support and allow myself people. In my life, that would heal, guide, support, mentor, and coach me and then. At some point, there was an echo coming back, and that was the initiator for me. And the echo came through various people almost on a daily basis. And the echo said, or those people said, What do you do to consistently have such a.

[00:11:31] Jun Fuchs: Positive or encouraging or loving energy around you. There is something about your energy that just strikes me, and every time I see you, you seem to be okay and happy. And I ended up answering that question always the same. I said, Well, because I looked enough inwards to actually really be in love with who I am and be happy with who I am.

[00:11:59] Jun Fuchs: And so that echo made me realize that there is something that I've developed and discovered for myself that I want to share with people, and I want to see people thrive and be okay with who they are and be happy, joyous, and balanced the same way that I felt. And then, I was looking for ways to give that a shape, so I started creating courses.

[00:12:25] Jun Fuchs: At some point, I started looking into guiding people, mentoring people, and eventually, out of that, Echo. My life coaching business grew, and along the way, obviously, I've done some trainings and workshops, but the main aspect of it was my own life journey. That was the foundation of me building a life coaching business.

[00:12:49] Maya Acosta: That's a beautiful story. The fact that you ended a significant relationship sort of freed you up to then continue to go within and to do work. I love that you talk about doing the inner child work, which I'm familiar with, that I've done. I feel like. We're never done, in a sense. I feel like I've been doing my work for many years.

[00:13:11] Maya Acosta: And something another point that you touched on that is so important, and the way that I heard it once said by another coach that worked with me was that I'm gonna use the word coach in this sense because a lot of times I think that therapists are restricted, psychiatrists are restricted by their licensing in terms of what kind of work that they can do.

[00:13:33] Maya Acosta: And you know, a therapist may not necessarily, or psychiatrist, may not necessarily do the work for themselves. And I'm not trying to generalize what I'm saying is that there is a distinction in terms of who you're working with. If you're working with an individual that's gone into those dark places, that's done the healing around trauma or has done the inner child work.

[00:13:56] Maya Acosta: They know how to guide you more profoundly to really get in there and release some of that pain that we have. And I'm recently reading Gabor Maté's the latest book, I forgot the title of it already, but he's talking about living in a society that traumatized us and continues to traumatize us or trigger us.

[00:14:15] Maya Acosta: You're probably familiar with what I'm talking about.

[00:14:18] Jun Fuchs: Yes, very much. And I subscribe to all of it. People that, as I said before, that have doven, diven, dipped, fell, crashed, been smacked by life, and found. Their way through profound inner healing. Those are the people to look out for when we look for guides and mentors, in my opinion as well.

[00:14:40] Maya Acosta: Absolutely. If I also can add, you know, I felt that prior to meeting my husband that I had, I was really on this path of doing work. I was finally in a place in my life where I was very comfortable being single, very comfortable in terms of what I wanted in my life. So I also had the freedom, the space to work within me without distractions and, and then life happens.

[00:15:04] Maya Acosta: You enter a new relationship, there are children, you relocate, you know, all these things happen. And then, like, the reason I'm bringing it up is it happens to many of us. We get lost; we lose ourselves in work, you know, in relationships or whatever it may be. and I find myself coming back to those tools.

[00:15:22] Maya Acosta: That one's worked for me. I'm coming back to self-care, to taking care of myself, to working with things that are still traumatizing my anxiety. I'm addressing it again. And so that's part of what you do, is that you help people come back to themselves. So I'd love for you to dive in and give us an example or talk more about your work.

[00:15:43] Jun Fuchs: Yeah, I'd love to. Thank you for asking. The key word that comes up is transformation. Right? And as a coach or a guide, I help initiate transformation, and I guide people through that process, and you mentioned anxiety, for example. So anxiety is also something that I know very well, and I believe all of us do know very well.

[00:16:08] Jun Fuchs: Regardless if we're diagnosed with it or not, we know that it often sources in a feeling, and it can become a disease through repetitive programming, let's say, and the transformation. To create a different relationship with these feelings and emotions so that they tend to lose their power and the core energy of an emotion can.

[00:16:34] Jun Fuchs: Be shaped in another energy or emotion. I often say emotion stands for energy in motion, and when we don't allow energy to be put in motion, we let it become stuck and stuck energy can manifest as mental health issues, but it also can manifest as physical issues in our body, lower back pains, neck pains, et cetera.

[00:17:01] Jun Fuchs: And what I get to do, what I am allowed to do with my clients, which I'm really grateful for, is I get to help them transform out of these states that they believe is a state of being. And I get them to transmute these energies into different energies. So I help them to get from anxious to confident and charismatic, or I help them to get from depressed to more joyous and balanced within.

[00:17:29] Jun Fuchs: So I get to observe these processes, give them with the tools and practices that are needed to transmute that energy, and I also help them integrate them because my work as a coach is not everlasting, and it's everlasting. I'll explain that in a minute, but it's quite goal oriented. So I'm helping people to heal to an extent that they have the empowered state of self-healing.

[00:17:54] Jun Fuchs: Right. And then from there, they can go to a next level. So a client of mine will not always be in the state of depression and in gratitude; I can say that it works, right? That's why I am successful as a life coach. I know people that try that, and it doesn't work for them. Then you'd rather, you know, look for another coach.

[00:18:14] Jun Fuchs: But I help them shift out of these states, and once they're there, we can go to the next level. And that's why it's called life coaching, because I believe, and I stand for that, that life is a transformation process and getting stuck, staying stuck, choosing to be struck. That is something that we have to shift out of.

[00:18:37] Jun Fuchs: I mean, come on. Like, what else is life there for? If it's not transformation? And yeah, I just named some examples from passion to empower, from anxious to confident, charismatic. And there's a chart that I often work with, which I would also love to share with you. And the chart shows all the human emotions that have been researched.

[00:18:59] Jun Fuchs: I believe it's been researched by a doctor called Hawkins. It's not the Hawkins that we all know of. It's another. Yet he researched that there is a vibrational or a frequency to each emotions, and there is low-frequency emotions and more high frequent emotions. And the high frequent emotions are the ones that we love to experience more.

[00:19:19] Jun Fuchs: And the low frequent ones are the ones that we don't really enjoy, such as sadness, such as anger, frustration, hatred, et cetera. And there are ways that I've learned both as a life coach, In my certification program that I've walked through, plus my own life experience to shift from these states into love, joy, compassion, happiness, and we use the body, we use the mind.

[00:19:48] Jun Fuchs: We use a holistic way for that, and that's what I love most about my work is that since I'm the core and I'm the one who decides, How to work with the clients. I'm also the one who decides to look at it from a holistic perspective and to look at it from, okay, the body, the way you nourish it, the way you eat, drink, the way you spend your days, the thoughts you allow every day, and.

[00:20:16] Jun Fuchs: Yeah, I'm trying to sum up the word holistic, but just keep it at the word holistic. I believe everybody understands that. And, um, Did I answer the question? I think it is. 

[00:20:26] Maya Acosta: Oh yes. I love what I'm hearing. This is all, you know, what I'm familiar with and what I believe in. I currently have two life coaches that I'm working with, and really, I say this a lot on my podcasts, but the pandemic woke me up to the work that I still need to continue to do.

[00:20:43] Maya Acosta: And it's interesting because I thought, like I said, that I had been on a, you know, I've been on a path I thought I had, we solved many of my issues, and nope, the pandemic just said, I'm still here. You know, some of my issues are still here, and I've been doing work since 2020 or 2021 with a couple of coaches, and I'm just gonna continue to do that work because I was that person.

[00:21:04] Maya Acosta: And you probably know this, Jun, that person that didn't wanna. Anything that wanted to just push all the emotions down and not address trauma that sometimes feels like can destroy us as we're working, doing the work. And so I appreciate what you're saying. Absolutely. And I'm familiar with, I think it's David Hawkins, the Power vs. Force book on emotions.

[00:21:28] Maya Acosta: And so I am familiar, and now that I'm doing the work and I go off of what I'm taught, when I am noticing that I'm feeling angry or upset or whatever it may be, I now just say to myself, Hmm, I'm feeling this. I wonder what is happening. And I allow myself to be with it. I no longer drink. And I know that that's another thing that you support your clients with.

[00:21:53] Maya Acosta: In other words, all the other things that we do to numb ourselves from feeling. What is there, but we don't wanna feel, So I think that you've explained it nicely. I don't know if you wanna talk about addiction, but I will tell you that I have another question for you. Since I know that you support vegans, I was wondering if you can tell us how you support individuals who make that transition.

[00:22:16] Maya Acosta: From waking up to understanding animal cruelty, that's the hidden truth. It's hidden from all of us who once consumed animals; no matter what was on your plate, it was hidden from us. We wake up to this reality that we, at one point, contributed to that. How do you work with people who experience that cognitive dissonance?

[00:22:37] Maya Acosta: That and the psychological trauma of it? That's one part. How do you support people as they continue to, you know, be part of a family that contribute family members and friends who are still consuming animals? How do you support them in that?

[00:22:54] Jun Fuchs: So, yeah, you said it really nicely that when you have this awakening moment, which we, when we go vegan or when we turn vegan, especially through learning about the animal abuse and disagreeing with that.

[00:23:09] Jun Fuchs: On a core value level, it comes with this massive challenge of still being surrounded by a world that supports it, and there is a lot of frustration, anger, and sadness that needs to be addressed and have a conversation with. I always talk about having a conversation with your emotions. You also set a really nice example.

[00:23:30] Jun Fuchs: When you feel something, you ask, Okay, you're here. I notice. So what do you wanna show me? Or how much space do you need right now? And then have an interaction with that emotion. So I'm basically helping our worldwide vegan community learn how to do that simply because we choose to embody these core values of love and compassion.

[00:23:53] Jun Fuchs: And we choose to not actively, to our extent of wisdom, harm animals anymore through our consumption. What we eat, what we drink, what we buy. It doesn't mean that we are excluded from feeling happy in this world. I know from my own life story that happened to me; I went a really hardcore vegan active mode.

[00:24:16] Jun Fuchs: I was engaged in a lot of demonstrations. I was on the streets on the weekends next to my full-time work back then, and I was just handing out leaflets, having discussions all the time with friends, family; and I did burn out because back then, I wasn't aware of my own emotional landscape and I wasn't aware that I was creating trauma by being exposed to these heated discussions all the time.

[00:24:41] Jun Fuchs: And not giving myself enough love and self-care during it. So what I help people do that realize this new part of their truth is I help them the same thing as I help anybody else actually create a new relationship with the emotions, make space for trauma experiences to be processed. And I teach them tools, self-help tools that not only.

[00:25:04] Jun Fuchs: Help them become more happy on the inside, become more balanced and vibrate a bit more joy into the world. But also they set them up with a certain tranquility that supports their work as activists, so they become more charismatic, and they are being perceived as more humble and loving, which allows other people to open up faster to the new idea of becoming vegan.

[00:25:33] Jun Fuchs: Right versus the idea of becoming an extreme angry activist. So creating change through vibrating a different frequency is what I help my vegan global family do. And not only the vegans; there's activists of any kind that find their way to me. So we have an environmentalists, we have social rights activists, we have human rights activists, we have people that are all at once because how can you not.

[00:26:02] Jun Fuchs: You know, if you wanna bring positivity into the world, you automatically become a change maker on so many levels.

[00:26:09] Maya Acosta: This is great information. Awesome. I don't think I've ever spoken to anyone who does work like you do in terms of supporting vegans and their activism and then continuing to take care of their mental health.

[00:26:23] Maya Acosta: They're fighting for justice in a sense. Now, when I was younger, like in my twenties, when I, you know, highly influenced by everything in college, I wanted to be an activist. I just, I don't know what kind, I just really, women's right was big for me, but I wanted to be an activist. Way before I became vegan, and what pulled me away from being active was the negative energy because I already had enough trauma in my life.

[00:26:50] Maya Acosta: like I already had enough negativity that I grew up with. I didn't want. To feel more of that negativity. And so that is one reason why I've shied away from being a certain type of activist. But what you just said really appeals to me in the sense that you're changing the vibration that you're functioning at, the energy that you're sending out when you're outreaching, and you're changing the approach.

[00:27:15] Maya Acosta: The conversation, and I too, was very, you learn the information, you just wanna share it with every. And I felt like I was too aggressive early on and might have pushed away people close to me, and ever since then, I became vegan in 2016. Ever since then, I have not been able to convert those people as a result because I was too aggressive.

[00:27:37] Maya Acosta: And I also find that people become uncomfortable around us. They begin to question, is it okay? Can you eat with us at this restaurant? Are you okay if I eat my meat in front of you? And I may be comfortable? Like for me, what I'm doing now, my focus is in how I interact with other people. That's become priority to me that I treat people with respect, but the roles are changing.

[00:28:01] Maya Acosta: And I wonder if you can tell me a little bit about what you think might be happening, which is people are becoming uncomfortable around us, and I say myself and my husband, and I'm finding that I'm trying to comfort. Because they're experiencing discomfort, maybe it's an internal intuitive thing that they know that maybe eating animals is not the right thing.

[00:28:23] Maya Acosta: What do you think is going on? 

[00:28:24] Jun Fuchs: There's definitely that voice like that's what I observe. And also having these humble conversations with pre-vegans or not-yet vegans, as I sometimes love to call them. You know, everybody's on their journey, and it's just a matter of time and what they need in order to get there. So there's definitely a voice of guilt in it because as the vegan community and the like, the vegan mindset is awakening in a lot of people, which I believe is quite unstoppable.

[00:28:58] Jun Fuchs: It's happening all around the world, and it's just a matter of time for people to, I was tempted to say, to hop on the train. It's not a train, it's not like, it's not about that. It's just really about awakening core values. So it's just a matter of time for people to do so, and I think that is certainly one of the voices in their minds.

[00:29:19] Jun Fuchs: There could also be another voice in their mind that is a little bit of a people-pleaser voice. And I know we also at like I'm a recovering people pleaser. Do. You're familiar with that as well? I see you head nodding. Yeah, right. Trying to please people over our own needs, wishes, and desires. And so I think that there is a voice of the people pleaser in people's minds as well when they try to comfort us and.

[00:29:49] Jun Fuchs: Through that, start feeling uncomfortable in these situations. And that is just another reminder of practicing truth, right? So in every kind of relationship, regardless if it is between a vegan and another vegan or a vegan and a pre-vegan. The relationship speaking the truth and being open and vulnerable around how we feel towards one another, simply by speaking that truth, it usually loses its power, like guilt loses its power when you speak, Hey, I feel a little bit guilty, and then, okay, it's out there.

[00:30:24] Jun Fuchs: People have perceived it. There is space for it. Okay, can we let it go a little bit? We can. Okay, cool. So speaking when these feelings happen could really help discharge this energetic charge that you experience when somebody feels discomfort. So a question that could be asked in such a situation could, for example, be, Hey, I'm, I kind of feel that there's a discomfort in this space.

[00:30:50] Jun Fuchs: Does anybody feel that too? Or, I kind of feel that because we eat different things right now. There might be some sort of guilt in this space. Like for me, I'm experiencing some sort of that. Is that, does anybody relate? And that's a level of communication that can discharge these situations quite fast.

[00:31:09] Maya Acosta: Well, this is a perfect timing in terms of what we're having a conversation about.

[00:31:13] Maya Acosta: I'm scheduled to speak with my life coach, I think tomorrow, and I was gonna run this scenario by her, but I'll share it because Thanksgiving and other holidays are coming up, and people like myself will be surrounded with, I love how you said it, Pre-vegans. This is wonderful. I love the psychology and how you choose the words carefully.

[00:31:35] Maya Acosta: I just came back from a, a trip, and it was a group of eight of us, and we rented a house, and I actually said to my husband, Did you tell them ahead of time that we're vegan? Because I'm the person that likes to address the elephant in the room. I don't like the awkwardness of it all. I wanted to prepare people.

[00:31:54] Maya Acosta: I just felt the need to bring it up once we were together. What I said was to one particular person who was interested in what I had to say is that I have seen my husband's patients suffer as a result of dietary choices that they have made. And I'm willing, and I, my passion is to work with people who are willing to make a change.

[00:32:14] Maya Acosta: So I'm not in the business of trying to convince anyone, but if you're ready, I'm here to support you. But what could I have said, Jun? How could I have planted a seed to support pe, so that they could kind of continue to think about why we have made this choice? 

[00:32:27] Jun Fuchs: Well, I find the sentence that you just said is quite powerful, and here's why.

[00:32:34] Jun Fuchs: I'm a big fan of speaking into somebody's future or next-level self. To start calling that in already, and they might not realize that in their conscious mind when their future self is being called in, but that does leave a seed, and it doesn't leave a seed in their past. It actually leaves a seed in their future.

[00:32:55] Jun Fuchs: I'm not sure how familiar you are with manifestation work and meditation work. I bet you are. And I bet a lot of listeners are into that as well. Right? Thumbs up. Yeah. So when we do manifestation work on ourselves, right, we very often focus on an vision that takes place in the timeline that we're in the 3D or the physical timeline in our near or further future.

[00:33:21] Jun Fuchs: So we're manifesting something in, we're calling something in closer to us through, let's say, a meditation practice or a journaling practice, or a manifestation practice of any kind, really. And we can apply that in our conversations as well. So I think you did a really smart move there, and very often it is a bit underestimated because we're not sure if we should have talked about, you know, They are now, and they're past, but when we talk about, or when we speak into their next step or their next level, we start calling that in already and that leaves the seat in the realm of manifesting, you can call it in the fifth dimension, even if you practice to, um, adjust your brain waves and tune into the field or into the fifth dimension.

[00:34:11] Jun Fuchs: The quantum field as quantum physicians, um, speak about it. And I think that's a really cool move to do. Now, wording these things is a very beautiful gift and a very beautiful practice that we can use as activists and advocates. So you're sitting there as the embodiment and proof that, like, It does you good.

[00:34:33] Jun Fuchs: It does your mind good. It does your body good, and your husband is there too. So something that I do love to say is I'd love to start my sentences within my experience or in my observation. I've been feeling much greater. I've been feeling much more energized. The people around me that I get to meet through living this vegan embodiment, they feel very vibrant.

[00:34:57] Jun Fuchs: They feel very alive, and that's just my observation, but I see people getting healthier than ever before through that. So I speak about my story, and that's actually also something I wrote in my ebook about; I had wrote about your story is your superpower. But your experience cannot be denied unless the other person is so in their own world that they don't listen to what you have to say, and then you let them do that, you know, until they don't.

[00:35:25] Jun Fuchs: But your story is your superpower. So if you bring that in, and sometimes your story doesn't even need words. I'm cheeky. I have a charismatic presence, so sometimes, when people ask me, and how do you feel? I'm like, Look at me. How do I feel? , what do you think? , Right, right. One more thing, Paul Watzlawick was a communication expert, and he said this one sentence that I always bring into every piece of content or often into my coachings.

[00:35:57] Jun Fuchs: You cannot communicate like you being communicates. So overthinking about what could have been said or not is sometimes not even needed because simply you being there communicates, and I bet you not, they were talking about you and your husband after that dinner. They were like, Well, that was maybe weird.

[00:36:16] Jun Fuchs: That was awkward. But they look really good. Like they look really healthy. I bet that was happening for some of them. 

[00:36:22] Maya Acosta: I know it was happening because one person came up to me and told me and so, and I'm so glad we're having this conversation, and I think I wanna continue to, to speak with you after this recording of course because I have two life coaches.

[00:36:38] Maya Acosta: But you're talking about, you come from an ethical. And a health, You're a vegan for all the reasons. And so not every coach has that perspective and understanding of what it's like to be in the middle of a group and feeling like you just wanna go hide under a rock. And that's how sort of a little bit how I was feeling like.

[00:36:58] Maya Acosta: Not defensive, but almost like I'm the one in the wrong. Like I'm the one that's putting it, making everyone else feel embarrassed, ashamed, discomfort, or uncomfortable. So I'm glad that we're having this conversation because I know a lot of people are in that situation. Once they make these changes, even if it's not just about, it doesn't have to be about food.

[00:37:17] Maya Acosta: If I change how, you know, my religion or how I exercise or something, the people in my circle are going to feel uncomfortable. There's this unspoken thing about they begin to feel, well, should I do the same thing? Should I go on this path, on this journey? If I decide to be a Buddhist, some people are gonna question their relationship with me, I think.

[00:37:39] Maya Acosta: But of course, it's important for me to always say, That I'm an ethical vegan first. And one individual in the house did ask me that, but she said, Are you vegan for the social part of it, I think she just probably didn't understand. I didn't know what that meant, but I said, I'm an ethical vegan. I'm vegan for the animals.

[00:37:57] Maya Acosta: Other individual that came up to me did tell me that they had Riz and I went a couple of times for bike rides around the island, and so they had time to talk amongst themselves, and. This person said to me, You know, the guys and I were just talking about Riz. We just can't believe he's vegan. Because when we were in college, he was the biggest meat eater of all of us.

[00:38:19] Maya Acosta: He always had to have steak, he always had to have burgers, so whatever it may be. And so I'm like, Wow, okay. I didn't know this about my husband. I didn't know he was that much of a meat eater. And then I said, So that I came from, From the health perspective about heart disease and what we know, and I said, Did you know?

[00:38:37] Maya Acosta: As a matter of fact, I was the one that introduced him to this lifestyle because I've been interested in health for many, many years, and I was into, you said earlier, during the word holistic, I was very much into other ways of healing our lives, including energy work, inner work, childhood trauma, all of that.

[00:38:56] Maya Acosta: And the food was the last thing that I. Could impact our health. And that's kind of how I shared it with him. And then I kind of said that we become so passionate that, of course, we have to share this information with our patients. And, of course, we created a support group in Dallas for anyone who's interested in healing their lives or preventing disease.

[00:39:15] Maya Acosta: So I'm talking about it from a point of health because that's how he was speaking about health. And I even said, You must be doing something right. You look. I didn't wanna shame him, and then I could tell the body changed a little bit, and he became more open, and he's also in the medical field. So, but yes, ever since then, Jun, I've had my mind, It's been going with all sorts of ways that I've, I could have approached this, and I think what I'm hearing you say is, You help us through this, you help coach us so that we become more and more comfortable having these conversations.

[00:39:47] Maya Acosta: Is that right?

[00:39:48] Jun Fuchs: That is indeed right. And the beauty of that is through that process of having better conversations like that, that feel more nourishing and can grow into a certain fruition in somebody else's mind like we become so empowered. You said it before, the benefits that you feel Maya from making this choice and observing the impact that it actually has.

[00:40:17] Jun Fuchs: It is just the most beautiful feeling around the heart and seeing other people being inspired through these choices, observing, learning. I just need to rephrase you again. You said to that person on the table. Whenever you're ready. I'm here to support you. Like that is such a beautiful thing to gift somebody with, Hey, I'm ready for you.

[00:40:42] Jun Fuchs: When you are, you decide, you know, You decide when you wanna be ready when you feel ready, when you choose to be ready.

[00:40:50] Maya Acosta: Ooh, I love that. What powerful words? I love how you're helping me see a better perspective, but I think that you've already helped me to see how maybe I did plant the seed, and I can't do it in a large group setting because it's almost like I can be bombarded by.

[00:41:05] Maya Acosta: People debunking what I'm saying, but when someone approaches me like I was approached a couple of times individually, then we can have a gentle conversation without judgment, without shaming.

[00:41:17] Jun Fuchs: Exactly. And aim into that without judgment then without shaming.

[00:41:22] Maya Acosta: Yeah. Jun, please tell my listeners more about, about you.

[00:41:25] Maya Acosta: You have an award-winning mini ebook. You have a YouTube channel, and you also have a podcast.

[00:41:31] Jun Fuchs: Indeed, I'm active on. Worldwide Web in many corners. So yeah, I gave birth to a mini ebook that is called Elevated Vegan Activism - Seven Ways to Create More Impact, and to give a perspective to that, the first chapter is called Self-Care First.

[00:41:51] Jun Fuchs: So it's first and foremost focusing on personal development as a vehicle to create more impact and to elevate the vegan impact that you can have in the world. But it can be applied to any kind of impact that a change-maker would wanna have. As you said, so nicely, when you were younger, your dream was to be an activist for women's rights.

[00:42:14] Jun Fuchs: And I was actually having a conversation just today, and somebody asked, Why be a change maker? Like, why is that important? And I said, Well because that's your heart, you are. You are already seeking to see positive change in the world. It's just a question of awakening that voice and letting it translate into action.

[00:42:33] Jun Fuchs: So, The mini book is an initiative to give people some perspective, to give activists, especially vegan activists, some perspective on how to, first of all, stay in the game as an activist for long term. Cuz I see many of us drop their power fall into depression and burnouts again. I see many of us do that, and I did too in the past.

[00:42:55] Jun Fuchs: It's a part of my own story as well that I turned my back on activism, and I had to properly learn self-care and take care of my mental health before I had any conversations again, that could be or become heated. So that book came out of this vision of just supporting the vegan activism community like that, and the YouTube channel and the podcast.

[00:43:20] Jun Fuchs: These are all. Just ways to bring this voice of mind and bring this idea of how mindfulness can support us instead of being a, Like I know in the activism community, mindfulness and spirituality are often a bit stamped as a religious thing, which I think is a misinterpretation and a interpretation that can lead to lack of impact.

[00:43:46] Jun Fuchs: So, The content on my YouTube channel, the content on my podcast, I get to inspire. Same like you inspire interview same like you. Really inspiring people that are working as activists, that are helping create organizations that are health coaches, fitness coaches. So I speak to, um, the same tribe in the podcast to have their voice amplified and heard by many more, and.

[00:44:14] Jun Fuchs: Yeah, so it's basically all of these are platforms to share what I feel like needs to be shared through me, through my voice and through my story.

[00:44:24] Maya Acosta: Thank you so much, and I'm gonna make sure that I add the links to the show notes. And I also wanna add that you never know. Who, you know, which individuals at our plant-based for their health have a yearning to get involved as an activist?

[00:44:38] Maya Acosta: And so, you know, maybe even through this podcast, through us having this conversation, there might be some listeners who already on board for their health and know about the cruelty behind the animal agriculture business. And maybe they are interested in getting active. But again, there's that other support that we need, which you offer, which is.

[00:44:58] Maya Acosta: How do we do this in a way where we raise our energy so that our voice can be heard, and also how do we take care of ourselves so that we don't burn out so that we don't become traumatized by the content that we may see during that activism?

[00:45:12] Jun Fuchs: Yeah, that's one of the biggest challenges, right? Being exposed to everything that you are speaking up for to not happen anymore.

[00:45:19] Jun Fuchs: That's very traumatizing and re-traumatizing. And you mentioned it all the way in the beginning of our talk, the vegan zone of brilliance. And sometimes we don't realize that somebody else, Is awakening a new part of their zone of brilliance. And the zone of brilliance for me is where somebody shines most with their talent, their uniqueness, their charisma, and through that, has more positive impact.

[00:45:46] Jun Fuchs: So a beautiful thing that I see my clients and also my followers, people just that just read my content or listen to podcast episode like this one here. What I observed happening for them, with them is that they realize another way to create impact that is even more aligned with them. That doesn't drain them but actually energizes them.

[00:46:10] Jun Fuchs: And so some people come from street outreach, and then all of a sudden, they go online. I've had a client from Australia. That was in politics in a, um, vegan party, and she was trying to get elected for a chair, and that didn't happen back then. And now, she shifted towards building her own business, which is a social media management business for vegan individuals and vegan businesses.

[00:46:37] Jun Fuchs: And she realized that that, like, that's in her zone of brilliance. I see how she thrives through that. I was gifted to work with her for three months and do inner alignment work with her, really listening to the heart, to the pureness of it, and now she's using that kind of vehicle to create big impact in the world.

[00:46:59] Jun Fuchs: And so bringing your own uniqueness to the table is what I advocate for. In our own activism communities because, yes, activism, it's not always fun. It really isn't. It's hard work. It's really challenging work. Yet we can have more impact when we find the challenge with a sense of joy and engagement in this way that we do, and.

[00:47:30] Jun Fuchs: It fuels us in a way, and I always say when your cup is full, and it overflows, the inspiration that you spread around your circles, around your people is immeasurable. So why not find a zone of brilliance? Include your talents, your uniqueness, your charisma, your interest in the way that you advocate. I have an education in graphic design, so at some point, I started supporting vegan businesses with my design skills and with my branding work.

[00:47:59] Jun Fuchs: And that's another way to help them elevate their impact, which elevates the vegan impact in their circles. Right? So that, just to explain the term vegan zone of brilliance and if street outreach. Is not your thing, and it drains you. Or if posting consistently online footage of slaughterhouses just retraumatizes you all the time, don't do it.

[00:48:27] Jun Fuchs: Don't do it. Find something else. Find something else. 

[00:48:30] Maya Acosta: Well, thank you for saying that because I, I'm an empath and I consider myself a highly sensitive person, and I am very heavily affected by the graphic things that we've seen, and I've seen the movies that are recommended, the documentaries that are recommended.

[00:48:47] Maya Acosta: Initially, I watch them because I, I wanna, anything that I recommend, I need to see first. And so even what I read, so I wanna be able to recommend something that I've read, and so, all of that content for me can sometimes be difficult because once I see something, I can't erase it from my mind. So I've often said like, how can I continue to help make a change without having to sit through some of those documentaries?

[00:49:14] Maya Acosta: Now, Jun, how do you work with people? If any of my listeners are interested in working with you, is it one on one? Do you have group work? And do you have a Facebook group or any other way that your clients come together? 

[00:49:28] Jun Fuchs: All of that. All of that. Yay. So obviously, I do have a free Facebook community, and I send out a newsletter, so everybody who wants my Ebook, it's free, and once you receive it, you also access my, uh, weekly newsletter. Sometimes it's multiple times a week. Sometimes it's once a week, really depending on what exciting things are going on. And those are two free things. I also have free workshop online that's available on my website. It's called the Confident and Charismatic Change Maker Workshop I will Sure you have. I will make sure you have the link to put that into the show notes and Yeah, you also mentioned it before, the YouTube channel and the podcast are other free resources. If somebody wants to take the step and to work with me, I have different levels of that. So the first level is for activists, advocates, vegans, and change-makers that want to elevate their mental health.

[00:50:29] Jun Fuchs: And grow more emotional resilience so that they can become capable of consistently creating impact. And outside of that, just be happier, healthier, and more balanced within. I do have a course that is called Mental Health Mastery, and it's available anytime. Somebody wants to enroll. It comes, um, for 249 US dollars and with six modules teaching mindfulness, foundation practice, and advanced practices such as meditation, breath work, mindful movement, aesthetic dance.

[00:51:04] Jun Fuchs: It's a lot of fun to do the course. Yeah, it's really a lot of fun. And then the next layer is if somebody already has embarked a little bit on their mental health work, And once to dive deeper into inner alignment work, I offer a group program, which at this moment, this time, uh, at the time is called 360-degree veganism.

[00:51:28] Jun Fuchs: Because it's integrating all the aspects of compassion and learning compassion for yourself as well. Learning inner healing, childhood healing, trauma work, and that is a mastermind that I run multiple times a year. I invite a small group of vegans into it multiple times a year, and that comes with live group calls.

[00:51:51] Jun Fuchs: It comes with access. Different courses that I've created, including the one I mentioned before. And then there's another course that also is a part of the components of that Mastermind, which is called conscious relating. And it's all about boundaries, intentions, and clarifying your yeses and nos in every kind of relationship you have.

[00:52:12] Jun Fuchs: That can be friendship; it can be in a conversation about activism. It can be in your marriage, it can be in your lover ship, and partnership. So, The next level, and then if somebody, Really wants to dig deep, deep, deep, deep into their individual work. I offer one-on-one coaching, yet I have limited spots. So sometimes there's a moment where you end up on a waitlist if you wanna be coached one-on-one.

[00:52:38] Jun Fuchs: And sometimes you, um, get access immediately depending on how many clients I have.

[00:52:44] Maya Acosta: Wow, this is awesome. An online course, one-on-one coaching, a mastermind sort of group. That's a lot of great stuff that you offer. This is wonderful. Well, I'm gonna make sure that I put all the links. I think it's just the one link to the different levels, right? Your website. 

[00:53:02] Jun Fuchs: Indeed. Okay. It's really fun because just today I created something. Helps you to land on the exact right page, and I called it A Virtual Journey for Vegans. So it's a segment on my website where you get to read a short text, and then you get to answer a question with yes or no, and then it leads you exactly to where you need to be.

[00:53:23] Jun Fuchs: So I will send you that link, and it's quite playful. It's really beautiful, playful, and everybody who's interested can just start that, uh, virtual journey. It takes maybe five to 15 minutes to read through all of it. It's not that much, but it's a fun and playful way I came up with to help you get where you need to be and help you choose the, the resources and offers that are right for you.

[00:53:47] Maya Acosta: That is perfect because I was wondering which of these levels I would. You know, like depending on the work that I've done. So I'm gonna go to your site and do the same thing. I'm gonna see, answer the questions and see where I would fit. So Jun, do you have a final message for my listeners?

[00:54:02] Jun Fuchs: I'm gonna quote someone with the final message, and the person that I'm quoting, his name is RuPaul. He is a drag queen, or the queen of drag. He's the person that has been growing the queer community, which is also a community I sign myself up to, or I belong to as a queer man. And he always says at the end of an episode, any kind of episode, he created a lot of TV shows.

[00:54:34] Jun Fuchs: He says, If you can't love yourself, how the hell you're gonna love somebody else? Can I get an amen to that? And then everybody says, Amen. So that's the final word.

[00:54:44] Maya Acosta: Thank you. I love RuPaul. What an amazing human being. Yes, Yes. Awesome. Thank you so much. You know, I wanna, uh, say once again I appreciate you waking up to be available at 1:00 AM Bali time so that we can have this conversation.

[00:55:02] Maya Acosta: And thank you again for your offerings and what you're doing for the vegan community. This is incredible. I don't know anyone else that is supporting vegans in mental health and in their activism and in becoming the best versions of themselves the way that you are. So thank you again, Jun.

[00:55:19] Jun Fuchs: Thank you as well, Maya.

[00:55:20] Jun Fuchs: So much love and appreciation for this, for your time, for the work you put into this as well because this is probably one of the most professional podcasts I've ever been on. So thank you for making it so available for people out there to hear what we have to say. 

[00:55:39] Maya Acosta: Thank you. Let's recap my conversation with Jun.

[00:55:42] Maya Acosta: Jun Fuchs is a live coach based in Bali, Indonesia. He became a vegan in 2017 and realized that ethics mattered a lot to him, not just with what he ate but also with how he spent his time and with whom he spent his time. He ultimately changed his social environment. Friendship circles and hobbies, and in 2019, he left Switzerland and moved to Bali to pursue a more adventurous lifestyle.

[00:56:09] Maya Acosta: Jun's work is centered around helping others initiate and go through a transformation. Jun provides the tools and the practices needed to transmute negative energies into positive ones and helps integrate those practices into his clients' lives. Here are some of the points that he talked about. Emotions are energy in motion.

[00:56:30] Maya Acosta: We must first become aware of our emotions to allow energy to flow. When we don't allow energy to flow, it can become stuck and manifest as mental or physical health issues. Once we become aware of our emotions, we can begin to release them. Releasing those emotions can then transmute them into positive ones.

[00:56:50] Maya Acosta: Breathwork, journaling, and meditation are helpful tools for releasing stuck emotions. The goal is to help the client reach a state of self-healing where they can move on to the next level. Some of the tools and practices that a life coach may help to shift a client's energy include Focusing on positive affirmations and visualization, breathing exercises to promote relaxation, guided meditation or relaxation, yoga, and other forms of exercises.

[00:57:20] Maya Acosta: And using these techniques, a life coach can help a client move from a state of stuck energy to one of healing and balance. And as you can hear, Jun is wonderful at doing this kind of work, and I was able to share so many concerns that I myself have had recently. I hope that you found this conversation to be useful, and I'm gonna add all the links for Jun in the show notes.

[00:57:42] Maya Acosta: I hope that you enjoy this episode. If you did, please send me an email. It's plant-basedmaya@gmail.com and as always, my friends, thank you for listening. You've been listening to the Healthy Lifestyle Solutions Podcast with your host, Maya Acosta. If you've enjoyed this podcast, do us a favor and share with one friend who can benefit from this episode.

[00:58:04] Maya Acosta: Feel free to leave us an honest review on Apple Podcast that helps us to spread our message. Thanks for listening.