ANDY ZAREMBA is a leader in the human consciousness and optimization communities. Located in Vancouver, B.C. In 2013, Andy and his brother Mike, partnered to create the Float House franchise, Canada’s leading flotation therapy centres, which now have eight locations across Western Canada.

In addition, Andy co-hosts (again with brother, Mike) the Vancouver Real podcast, a digital media leader in the human consciousness space. The podcast has produced over 125 episodes with incredible guests such as Dr. Gabor Mate, Graham Hancock, Rick Doblin, and Wim Hof to name just a few.

Personally, Andy is father to Ella Faith, his seven-year-old daughter, whose miraculous birth and survival have been key to Andy’s personal growth and dramatically changed the trajectory of his life. In fact, it was during her ten months’ post-birth in the NICU and following two years with full time home care when Andy began his practice of mindfulness meditation, yoga, and self-education through podcasts. This eventually led him to launch both Float House and Vancouver Real podcast.

Andy is living his vision helping to facilitate the expansion of human consciousness worldwide. His interests include traveling, fitness, martial arts, yoga, plant medicine, meditation, music, art, hiking, scuba diving, and stimulating conversation.

3 words to describe Nature?

Inseparable. Majestic. Chaotic.

3 things Nature taught you?

To accept the finite disposition of our existence.

To know we have very little control over our destinies.

To live in awe of our reality.

3 most treasured Nature spots?

Komodo National Park, accessed through Flores, Indonesia.  The incredible marine biodiversity is more rich than I have seen in any other part of the ocean.

Mount Everest and the journey to its base camp.  Beautiful mountain ranges, Sherpa villages, Buddhist temples, glacial moraines, and foothills are truly breath taking.

The Amazon basin and surrounding tributaries.  The relatively quick life-cycles in and around the Amazon is a stark reminder of the balance between growth and decay, life and death and order and chaos.

When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel…?

In awe of the infinite array of possibilities.

When you see a forest, it makes you feel…?

The apprehensiveness of entering into unexplored territory.

When you see a volcano, it makes you feel…?

Uncertain about the future of humanity given the volatile Nature of our universe.

When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel…?

I feel a sense of peace or satisfaction in the transitory state between light and dark, with the hope of renewed beginnings.

When you hear thunder, it makes you feel…?

Alert to unexpected phenomena.

When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel…?

An emptiness that haunts my soul.

Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?

It’s a toss up between Ocean and Mountain.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?

10

Share with us a childhood nature memory?

One of my favorite childhood memories in nature was a family visit to the Florida Keys and experiencing snorkeling in the shallow, warm, salty waters for the first time.  I remember the ocean feeling very alien.  I was curious yet cautious.  I’d spent many hours snorkeling in the cold, freshwater lakes of Ontario but the salt water of the ocean threw me off at first.   The warmth and extra buoyancy were very welcome.  I remember swimming in the shallows over patches of sea weed that would open-up into sandy flats.  While swimming across one of them I encountered a stingray.  It wasn’t all that big but I remember being warned about stingrays and to avoid them for obvious reasons.  At that moment I realized that I was completely out of my element and that the ocean was full of things that could sting and I needed to exercise more caution than I normally would in my day-to-day life.  Then, we ventured further out into deeper waters.  The vast openness of the water is felt freeing but at the same time a sense of vulnerability.  You never know what could be lurking in the waters just out of sight.

I think the entire experience made me more awake to life.  Being in new environments forces us to pay attention.  It’s so easy to get lost in the mundane of the everyday.  We get numb.  We intentionally and necessarily ignore anything that’s not immediately useful to us.  But once we go into unexplored territory, we pay attention in much more detail.  To pay attention is to be awake.  To make the unconscious conscious.  Nature can provide an excellent opportunity for us to remember to do so.