JOURNAL JAMS: VOL 29

Jeremy: Nick, thanks for hanging today. Always great to see ya!

Nick: Stoked to be here brutha!

Jeremy: Fill me in, how long have you been living in the states now?

Nick: I’ve been here seven years now. 

Jeremy: Oh, so you moved here in 2013? 

Nick: twentyyyyy….thirt….yeah, I can’t quite remember when it was, but I know it was in April.

Jeremy: hahaha fair enough.

Nick: Hahaha yeah,  I just remember life was pretty good back home before I left for the states but I left because I was working for a media agency that I just didn’t find worth my time, it wasn't fulfilling. I was digital advertising. It was an interesting time to leave because Things were pretty good. I was making decent money, working in the city, living on the northern beach…

Jeremy: Oh damn? 

Nick: Yeah, I ended up getting a one-way ticket to the US to meet up with my mate that lives in Newport. We did three months together in Central America and the goal was to go all the way to Peru, but because we had to carry wetsuits and stuff, we decided to send them back to California and just stayed in Central America. So yeah, had that going and eventually came back with no plan besides going to Burning Man, which was SICK. After that, I was like alright, let’s really figure it out, worked a few jobs, met Kristen, my girlfriend, helped her out with her salon. During that time, I picked up a huge interest in the health stuff which I’ve now been doing for four or five years. 

Jeremy: Wow, personally, I always trip out on how things pan out. I feel there’s potential for anything to happen. Well, that said, how did you get tied in with Banks?

Nick: My friend Ryno (Ryan).  He knew Rama from back in Australia from the industry and we planned a little trip to Nicaragua. It was just going to be him and I originally and one night, we were all out doing something and Rama was around, and we were like come on board, let’s go the three of us. So, we pulled in over there and drank like three bottles of rum the first night between the three of us and the rest is history. Hahaha but yeah, we had a sick trip for like a week down there. I met Rama from that, and we just stayed great friends after that. I then started going down to the Banks office when I first started doing what I do now and would teach foundation training and bring those ice baths to the crew. Hahaha 

Yeah, I would pull into Costa Mesa, hit the 99-cent store and get like 25 bags of ice. I would then kinda sneak into the office feeling all bad about what I was about put everyone through and be like“boys, just letting you know I’m here”, and then I’d fill the tub up and have everyone jump in. 

Jeremy: Hahaha love it. Hey, did you want another one? I’ll get the next.

Nick: Sure, I’ll do another of the same!

Jeremy: Alright, where were we? Oh, I meant to ask. What sparked your interest in health?

Nick: I think I’ve always been interested in health since a young age. Up until early high school, I was pretty competitive with all the usual sports and then I sorta lost the competitive drive when I realized that those sports were taking away from my time in the water. I think my motivation with health has always been to have energy and to feel good both in surfing and in my daily life, so I feel lucky that studying this stuff has not only helped me make a good living, but also keeps my own body feeling good. On top of that, I’ve always kinda had a feeling that I needed to learn how to look after myself so that I wouldn’t have to rely on anyone else and that’s the mentality I try to share with my clients as well. 

Jeremy: Ahh, that’s a clever way of looking at it. I actually really like that! On that note, are you surfing much these days? 

Nick: I’m not surfing as much as I’d like to right now, but one good thing that has come from the pandemic is that traffic on the 405 has become a lot more mellow. Driving to OC is much easier these days. I’ve had some really fun sessions down there this year compared to others, but I still wish I was surfing more. It’s good for my work though since it really helps me speak to the average surfer around here in LA in ways that I maybe couldn’t if I was surfing more. What I mean by that is that it really highlights the value of the training that offer because I can feel first-hand what it feels like to be training as someone who specifically wants to maintain consistency in the water when the schedule doesn’t allow it. In other words, I’m surfing less but my body feels just as sharp and sometimes even sharper than the days when I was surfing every day back home.

Jeremy: Well, I gotta say, I’m that average surfer for sure. Hahaha I got one last one for ya and I only ask because I was scoping your living room and found some good books lying around. Have you been reading anything interesting these days? I feel that’s something that most people I know picked up on this year.

Nick: I’ve actually read a lot less this year than I did last year. I’ve picked up a bunch of different books all at the same time and haven’t really been able to sink my teeth into too many that I’ve loved. At the start of COVID, I started reading a really dense one called, Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fate of Human Societies, because I think right now, more than I ever, I’ve been contemplating the fact that we might witness the extinction of our human race. This book goes into detail about some turning points in human history that have put us on this track, with one of the really big ones being the unsustainable agricultural system that we use to feed our growing population. These thoughts have led me to some really hopeful people though, with Dr Zach Bush being one of them. He is out on the front lines spreading a great message of hope and educating the rural farmers in America about more sustainable practices that have the potential to reverse climate change and a lot of the other degenerative human diseases that have arisen from our disconnect from nature. I’d recommend for everyone to have a listen to some of the great podcast he’s done this year. He goes into detail about some interesting facts about COVID as well. 

Jeremy: Sick! Thanks for sharing man. I’m always looking for a good read to add to my to-do list. Podcasts are even better with all the driving we all do. Haha well Nick, thank you for your time today. It’s been great. 

Nick: Cheers brah!

Photos & words by: Jeremy Knies

Follow Nick Voroshine at: @homeholisticla