Mick Unplugged
Ravinder Taylor Reveals Simple Tools for Self-Empowerment and Mental Growth
25 Sep 2025
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Have you trained your brain to do all that it can do? If not, this episode is for you. We are here with brain training expert, Ravinda Taylor. She's going to give you a bunch of techniques, a bunch of sources to push you through the limits so that you can be the best version of yourself that you could possibly be. Without further ado, this is Ravinda Taylor.
Ravinda, how are you doing today, dear?
I am great, Mick. Thank you so much. And what a lovely introduction. I appreciate it.
Chapter 2: How did Ravinder Taylor overcome her childhood insecurities?
Thanks for having me on.
Absolutely. I am honored to have you here. Ravinder, you do a lot with mind training, with personal development. So I'm honored to have you here on the show. And I always like to start with my guests with understanding what's their because? What's their purpose that keeps you doing what you do to help so many people? So Ravinder, what's your because today?
Why? Because I think I've always believed that I was capable of more. But I was also aware that I was full of insecurities and inadequacies, especially as a child. You know, I grew up in England. We were the only brown family in our city, actually, almost. It felt that way. So there were always differences, you know, and it was...
there was an attitude back then, particularly that if you didn't do it the British way, that was wrong. And so I was constantly, and I, I always had these inadequacies, but I always knew, I always knew that there was something more. And so I've been striving to, to learn more about that. And they do say you teach what it is that you want to learn.
So I want to learn how to become fully myself, not, copy of somebody else not puppeted by other ideas not pushed around because of the I think I should I ought to you know all of those kinds of things I wanted to become fully myself and that's what my journey has all been about and that's precisely what I try to teach
No, I love that a lot. I love that a lot. And you talked about realizing that you were capable of more. And I want to go a little bit deeper there, because I think if we're all honest with ourselves, right, like we are capable of more. And I think a lot of times when people think of more, they think of physically. But I like to think of it as mentally as well, too, right?
Like you are capable of thinking more. You're capable of pushing your mind to the limit. So when did you realize that you were actually capable of more?
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Chapter 3: What simple techniques can improve mental health and well-being?
you know, Mick, I think I could have come into the world having that in the background. As I said, my childhood was full of inadequacies. So I was constantly hearing around me that what I did wasn't right, the way I thought wasn't correct. Everything was just wrong about what I did. And there was a part of me, yes, it had an influence on me, but there was a part of me that said,
No, no, it isn't necessarily so. And so one of the core teachings that I have in my life as a result of that, because there's always good things that can come from bad situations. There's always something that you can learn from it. And so for me, one of the first things that I decided was there aren't rights and wrongs. There are just differences.
Now, I'm not talking about the big moral questions. I'm talking about things like, you know, there are some people who cover their head when they go into church and there are others that uncover them. There are, you know, those kinds of things. It's like these things don't matter. We're all human beings.
If what we're doing is out of respect, out of care for somebody else, then that's the part that should be appreciated. And that's how I try to treat other people. If I meet people and They do things differently. It's like, okay, what's the intent?
Chapter 4: How can diaphragmatic breathing impact your health?
What's the intent? That means a whole lot more to me.
No, absolutely. For the person that's watching or listening to this and they feel like, you know, I hear Ravinder talking now and I do think I'm capable of more. What are some things that they can do to identify what that looks like for them?
That's a big question, Mick. That's a really, really big question there. I think we are all capable of more. There are many people who aren't aware of that. They think they are just the way they are because of their genes, because of their upbringing, because this is how God made them. I would tell everyone out there, no, you are capable of more. You're capable of expressing your full potential.
A whole lot, a whole lot more. I would say, look at yourself, look at where you are. And I'm not only talking about finances and career and education. I'm talking about the kind of person that you are, the kind of relationships that you have. Can you be a better partner? Well, I think, Mick, we can all agree that we can all be better, better partners.
But it's that journey, it's that constant striving to do better, to be a better partner, to be a better parent, to be a better friend. Those are the things that really matter.
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Chapter 5: What role do subconscious beliefs play in personal development?
And then when it comes to your career, don't think that you have to accept just where you are. You can go further if that's what you want. You know, I'm not trying to tell someone what they should do. If you are happy in your life, appreciate that. That's great. That's wonderful.
But if you feel like there is more, you want to push yourself more, you want to experience more, you want to learn more things, then don't allow others ideas. Don't let somebody else tell you, no, that's all you can do or you don't want to.
try and run a marathon my gosh you haven't run in for forever and that's a personal example of mine because I did run a marathon when I was 55 and I hadn't run for decades prior to that but it was like I actually had a friend who had who had done this and that showed me that it was possible And so it was just an experience that I wanted to have. And I grew to love running.
I fully intend to do more marathons. They are just they take a great deal of time. And so I have to prioritize all the other things in my life. But to push yourself more, to experience more things, you only have one go around in this life. You know, perhaps there's reincarnation, perhaps you get, but we don't have control over that. What we have control over is this life right now.
And I'm into maximizing it, enjoying it, experiencing it to the best of my ability. And most importantly, I don't want to be the one holding myself back because there are beliefs in my subconscious mind that I didn't put there, but that are controlling me. And that really comes to the crux of the whole mind training process.
I like that. And I want to go into some of the mind training techniques that you've established and that you're doing now. Let's go with the book. So talk to us about why now with the book, right? And then what are some of the key aspects that we can pull out from it?
There is lots in mind training that you can pull out. The full title is mind training, the science of self-empowerment. And that says it all. It is very science-based. I actually draw on about 200 independent research studies that were done.
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Chapter 6: How can subliminal messaging enhance self-empowerment?
I draw on those to create the tools and techniques that I recommend in mind training, but the empowerment, the self-empowerment part was really important to me. So often, you know, you can have teachers that, you know, specialize in personal development and they give out recipes. They say, do this, do this, do this, and you will get what you want.
They don't tell you what the purpose is behind each of these techniques. They don't allow you to understand it and personalize it and make it your own. And then when it doesn't work for you, they just tell you, you didn't do it right. And I didn't want that. I don't like that. So I wanted that the self-empowerment part was really important to me.
So in my training, each chapter, I will go through the science, um i provide lots of examples i don't just draw on one or two there'll be research studies done in different places in the world that reinforce the basic concept but then at the end of each chapter i will provide a summary for why i shared that information why that information is important and then i provide tools and techniques that
people can use to put into practice right away what it is they have learned there's two kinds of knowing you can know something on a superficial level and you can know something so deeply within you that it becomes habituated and that's what i wanted mind training to do the tools and techniques are frequently very simple but first you have to understand why they're important
Otherwise, you'll just dismiss it. You won't see the consequence of it. You'll say, oh, that's just airy fairy nonsense. So I wanted to say why it's so important. I wanted to explain how the elements work. And then I wanted to empower you to make it part of your day to day routine.
That's amazing. Can you give us an example? So from the book, could you give us a case study and talk about the science behind it? Any chapter, your choice.
I'll pick one of my favorites. And it's actually a bit difficult because it is so simple, Mick. It is so incredibly simple that if I just give you the bottom line, people aren't going to do it. It's like, it's like, okay. Okay, that's just more airy fairy stuff. But the benefits that come from smiling. Okay.
When I first encountered the idea that putting a pencil between your teeth will cause your brain to release endorphins, which is one of the happy brain chemicals, I thought that was crazy. Absolutely crazy. But I dug in and yes, that is true. Absolutely true. But then you want to look at some of the other evidence out there.
There are two research studies that I really appreciated totally independently. One looked at baseball cards and one looked at high school photographs. And looking at those pictures, the researchers were able to predict how long the person would live. So what they found was that in these pictures, if a person had a small smile on their face, they would live on average two years longer.
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Chapter 7: What are some practical tools for achieving personal growth?
If they had the full Duchenne smile, then they would live on average seven years longer. Smiling. the Duchenne smile, diaphragmatic breathing. These are very mechanical ways to get your body more relaxed, to reduce the stress, to increase the happy brain chemicals. I've tested this on myself, Mick. I'm very skeptical. So I try everything out for myself.
So there was a period in my life, generally, I've always had really good blood pressure. But during COVID, my brother passed away, which was traumatic. I couldn't be with him. But then there's all the other traumas that surround, that can surround you when someone passes away. There's arguments over the world. You see the greed. There was just some really ugly stuff that went on.
And I'm aware that lots of people have these experiences. At the time, I thought it was just me. It's like, how can people be so awful? But Anyway, as a result, my blood pressure went up. It's the highest it's ever been.
Chapter 8: Where can listeners find Ravinder's book and connect with her?
It went crazy. So I tested out both the smiling and the diaphragmatic breathing. Diaphragmatic breathing, if you put your hand at the bottom of your rib cage and then breathe in and feel your lungs expand, feel the rib cage expand and come up, that will expand the diaphragm. And it's a bit like having a big stretch. I mean, try it for yourself right now, Mick. Take a big, deep breath. Feel it.
And there is, it's a bit like a yawn or a big stretch. You just, you feel good right away. So I tested both of these. I took my blood pressure. The numbers were high. I turned the blood pressure cuff off. I put on the big Duchesne smile. Fortunately, I was all by myself. So there wasn't anyone to see me looking silly. Put on the big Duchesne smile.
did about three big diaphragmatic breaths slowly, evenly, just allowed myself to enjoy that. The stretching of the diaphragmatic muscle took my blood pressure. Again, my blood pressure had dropped 30 points in a matter of minutes. Now it's not going to stay there. It's not going to stay there for forever, but the more you can remind your body how it is supposed to feel,
the quicker it is to achieve that state again. And then you realize that when you're going through your day, if you're feeling upset, you're aware that being upset will raise blood pressure. You know, having the stress chemicals in your system just isn't good for you. It's not good for your immune system, not good for your health, not good for anything.
So you can just do this, just walking down the stairs, put on a smile, take that big diaphragmatic breath, release it, release that tension. And the proof is in the pudding. You get to see that, but it goes even further, Mick, because when you look at optimism studies, they found that more optimistic people will live longer, have better relationships, be better off financially, better off, um,
know in in their careers they're they're better parents it it goes it goes in every single direction just from being optimistic and smiling and optimism you know one is going to be a belief in the future but the other just just reinforces it so when you're smiling and you're thinking about your future it's easier to feel positively about it and there are other uh
techniques in my training where I explain how to increase your optimism because some people are just naturally pessimistic.
Yeah, yeah. And we see that a lot in business and in life, right? Like I talk about adjusting your circle or your tight-knit group and community because just like optimism spreads, well, so does pessimism. Right. And that energy that you receive can be the difference of, man, I need to do some some stretching. Like Miss Ravender told me. Right.
I need to I need to to bite on the pencil and smile because I've got this pessimism around me. So I love the fact that you were talking about that. And I know that a lot of that comes from your work with the progressive awareness research. Tell us a little bit about some of the things that you are doing with that company.
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