My Mindvalley Adventure - takeaways, insights and frustrations

Hi everyone! I feel like right after Alta I got sucked into a wormhole and spat out again. It's time to reconnect.

Many of you know that I took a leap of faith and invested in attending Mindvalley U in Amsterdam this August (https://www.mindvalley.com - for those of you who are not familiar, Mindvalley is a personal growth platform that sells different courses and in-person events). I have A LOT of thoughts about this experience. One one hand, it was amazing to connect with people who are serious about their personal growth, wellness, and spirituality. It was really cool to see some of the big names of wellness and personal development on stage like Human Garage, Sahara Rose, etc. During the week, I ran a small morning meditation group and also spent a lot of time networking with others.

In terms of finding hubs and leads, I would say this event is ripe with opportunity and well worth the investment if you are a wellness pro. Many people travel from all over the world to meet each other. I met with two people who are seriously interested in running retreats with me in Japan and India, interviewed 4 people for my podcast, and accumulated a handful of leads and people interested in the work that I do. Many people come to Mindvalley not necessarily for the conference, but to network, hold their own events, collaborate and find clients. While others are new to personal growth and wellness and come genuinely to learn from the experts and have breakthroughs.

In terms of the programming and structure of Mindvalley itself I wasn't particularly impressed and the impression I got was that they sell their programs by capitalizing on the glamorization of wellness and spirituality. Rather than selling balanced health, wealth, abundance and spirituality, I felt like the overall message they were selling was get infinitely wealthy, live longer, grow bigger businesses...go big go big go big. Women teaching Kundalini in ball gowns and exclusive VIP parties for those who pay for more expensive tickets. Programming promoting AI to grow faster, outsource innate intelligence, accelerate growth. But I guess people still have shiny object syndrome...and I get a sense that to stay profitable Mindvalley is opting to become the McDonald's of personal growth...a for-the-masses entry level and somewhat surface level introduction to spirituality.

The upside of the Mindvalley community is that you could give a workshop with the most esoteric of titles and people would eagerly participate. The downside to this is its hard to discern what workshops are actually worth going to. I can imagine

@Cate Stillman

giving a primal habits workshop and people really loving it and getting a lot of value out of it. And I did witness a lot of people having breakthroughs, insights, and genuine connection. The thing is there's nothing really balancing about the programming structure itself - no breaks between sessions, late night parties, no integration built in...participants are somewhat left to their own devices.

So would I attend again? Probably, as an investment to build my audience and network, but certainly with no expectations of having any deep breakthroughs. Nevertheless, this was one of the first spaces where I met a lot of Gen Z and millennials who are very invested in their personal growth, and I finally felt like I relate to the majority of the people that I met. That was super refreshing and made me hopeful for my business. But I would seriously strategize and structure it in a way that is balancing to my nervous system. And I would make sure to keep my discernment razor sharp, so as not to get swept away by some of the less balanced aspects of the whole experience.

And what a contrast to go to this after spending such a nourishing time with everyone in Alta! I am grateful for this community...

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