Something changed in my mind when I returned from South America in the summer of 2023. Granted, I had been listening to a meditation that creator Danielle Grant of the Spiritual Room.co had curated specifically for me. It was a meditation about already having the experiences I wished to have following signing this new sponsorship. The meditation was never specifically created with the intention of specific actions to follow, but rather just to feel that it was already accomplished. I started listening to it shortly after arriving in Chile for my summer South American snow camp, and by mid-September when I landed back in Whistler, Canada, I began to feel the shift. I got back into my routine of biking, working at Fairmont Chateau Whistler, and really executing on sponsorship leads.

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** The meditation begins with closing the eyes and getting comfortable, really leaning into relaxing, rolling the shoulders, opening them up, letting go of the stomach, and even relaxing the bum by flexing and relaxing. As I listen to it now and share the experience with you (the reader), I begin to connect with my breath. I begin to visualize how I am already sponsored by this brand. “Because you already are, sponsored by this brand”, and then I go on a journey in my mind, of being the sponsored athlete, and the different events and engagements that I would partake in. The meditation leads me through different sound and vocal waves that light up the energy in my body, I can feel it whooshing behind my eyes, in my mind, sending electricity through my veins. The visualization feels real. I’m asked to speak on what I would say in an interview where I was asked about this sponsorship. It feels good. It feels aligned. What I’m saying to the interviewer flows effortlessly. As the meditation comes to an end, I tap back into my body, asking if any more relaxation is available, asking my greater intuitive intelligence if there is anything more for me to see in this reality. By the time these visuals subside, I connect back to the rhythm of my breath and drop out of the intention and desire. I now know, more than before the beginning of this 7 minutes, that where I was in, is where I will be because it already is. 

** Verbiage from this blog post is sourced directly from the audio meditation curated by Danielle Grant of the Spiritual Room.co

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Between the time of August 24th and September 16th, I believe I listened to this meditation a dozen times. A dozen times I put myself into a place of being the version of myself where I already was sponsored by the brand within my greatest desires. This method is one that I have used plenty of times over the last five years in my athletic career. I’ve constantly placed my mind in self-guided meditations where I had already accomplished my athletic goals, so this meditation practice was nothing new to me. It was easy for me to understand the concept of living in a visualization, after the accomplishment of the goal, without knowing what the middle steps looked like in getting there. Within sport, I’ve seen this method deliver great results both at specific races, and among the greater pathways. I felt that when I really implemented this customized meditation, which was so specific to a desired outcome of already being a sponsored athlete, I would experience it in my reality soon thereafter.

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As I re-entered my routine in Whistler, I found myself putting big amounts of focus and energy into small parts of my day. I had accumulated a short list of quick emails that I could send to my current sponsors and connected contacts that would likely deliver greater support this season. One thing to note, what really pushed me in this direction was that I needed a new freeride snowboard, because the end of each snowboard season would roll around and I would say “I really need a new board next season.” The summer would pass, and the new winter would approach and regrettably I would hear in my mind, “Ah, it’s okay… it can wait until next year.” The twin tip snowboard that I had been riding in resort parks and pow fields was now five years old and show have been replaced several years back. By the time I left Chile, I had decided that this pattern would end. I left the snowboard behind… I did this with the pure intention of signing a new sponsorship before my trip to Spain and Austria for World Cup training at the end of October. 

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So, I sat down on the couch on a Tuesday morning, roughly 7 weeks before departure to Europe, and I wrote an email to my currents sponsor (NOW Bindings), asking if they could connect me directly to Nidecker Snowboards. A mainstay reason for wanting to partner with Nidecker is because they are under a family umbrella with NOW Bindings, and other industry brands including Jones and YES. Another email I sent that Tuesday morning was to Intuition Liners, a family-owned and Canadian grown brand located in Vancouver, BC. They remain a small family business with a big impact. I had originally heard of them as a partner with the brand Thirty-Two, who used their product in snowboard boots. I later learned about Intuition further when some of my further snowboardcross coaches and competitors swore that their equipment has never performed better than when equipped with their products. I felt this could be a great sponsor because I had already build a relationship with them last summer when I asked for a donation to my silent auction. 

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Almost immediately I heard back from both NOW Bindings and Intuition Liners… I was to be connected to Sidecar North America & Intuition would absolutely support me through a set of custom boot liners, apparel, and their famous booties. This was extremely exciting for me, as it felt like I was already living in that visualized state and the effort to get there was minimal. During the time of waiting to hear from Nidecker, I continued to listed to my curated sponsorship meditation. I also found myself looking at their webpage and sensed more inspiration among their snowboard boots – and how having a new pair of boots, along with Intuition Liners this season, would likely add to my performance. I took my efforts one step further, writing a short email directly to Nidecker. Similar to the response from Intuition Liners, I was immediately connected with NA Sales and Athlete reps. I was asked to share about my history, season plans, and when/how often their equipment would be used. Suddenly, the responses dropped off…

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I was approaching two weeks before departure to Europe and I was also waiting to hear back from Intuition Liners when we could set up an appointment date and boot liner fitting. It was my hope that new boots from Nidecker would arrive, and Intuition could fit the new liners… but some doubt crept in… until I remembered my meditation. I remembered that before all of this happened, I had been putting myself in that place three times a week, and more recently, only once a week. I doubled down and began to ground myself in “already being sponsored”. New inspiration arose, sending another follow up email and even calling the Intuition store. I quickly arranged a date for a boot fitting… but that still left the questions of: Would I get the liners to fit into my old boots? Would I wait until after Christmas instead to fit the Intuition Liners? What if I have to race in my old boots that are giving me problems? Will I end up just buying a different snowboard from a local shop in Whistler? At that point I had to put faith in the timeline. I trusted that with my Intuition appointment set for October 18th, I would hear from Nidecker on the Monday, and somehow, someway, have new boots for the appointment. 

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Monday, October 16th rolls around, and I go about my day as I would. Training, biking, work. As I prepared meals for the coming week, and sat down to eat dinner, I received an email notification – it was 7:48pm. Sure enough, a response from Nidecker Snowboards!!! It read, “Sorry for the delay, we were in a sales meeting in Switzerland. We would love to support your future endeavors. Let us know what size of snowboard and boot you’d like, and we will ship it out to you once we check out warehouse.” NO WAY!

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It felt surreal. Am I already sponsored? I am. But that left one last question…. How would I get Intuition Liners fitted into my new Nidecker snowboard boots, two days from now, that have not even left the warehouse? I immediately got on Google and searched for Nidecker dealers in the Vancouver area. BINGO. The Boardroom stocks the model and size of boot I’m looking for. The morning of Tuesday, October 18th I called and shared my situation with them. They were extremely kind to help in the way of selling me the boots, and allowing a return on the pair that would be shipped directly from Nidecker. 

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HUGE Thanks to Intuition Liners and Nidecker Snowboards for getting my boots and snowboard sorted for the 2024 World Cup training and competition season!