How To COMPLETELY HEAL Your BODY Permanently! with Gary Buckman

Welcome to the first conversation of the Next Level Soul Podcast. I wanted this episode to be special and I couldn’t be more excited to bring you today’s remarkable guest. On the show we have speaker, executive coach, and author Gary Buckmann. His comeback story is one for the ages.

While in college, Gary Buckmann went from being a top-level gymnast to lying in a hospital bed paralyzed from a broken neck. By using the techniques he now teaches to clients, he went on to achieve a full recovery. Within 3 short years of his catastrophic injury he was able to compete again.

In record time, Gary was asked to be on the National USA coaching staff for women’s gymnastics. He worked with 5 Olympic Gold Medal winners and traveled the world with the USA team. His new book Broken to Brilliant: Overcome Obstacles to Create Opportunities & Achieve the Impossible chronicles his miraculous story.

“For anyone looking for a wise and powerful story full of inspiration, this book is a must!”

As a speaker, executive coach, and author, Gary is passionate about sharing his techniques and experiences with athletes, business executives, entrepreneurs, and community leaders. His unique ability to inspire and motivate helped thousands of people to adopt new ways of thinking and in the process achieve national championship success.

I hope Gary’s story is an example to you that anything is possible. Enjoy!

Right-click here to download the MP3

Listen to more great episodes at Next Level Soul Podcast

Follow Along with the Transcript – Episode 001

Alex Ferrari 0:03
Now, we all go through tough times in our life, they are struggles, they're things that harden us that make us stronger. That is our origin stories. If you were a superhero, and today's guest has one heck of a story. His name is Gary Buckman. He is the author of the new book, broken to brilliant. And I had the pleasure of meeting Gary at an event a couple years ago, actually, where he told me the story of a book that he was writing at the time, about where, when he was 20 years old. In college, he broke his neck in a gymnastics accident, and he was part of the gymnastics team. And the doctor said that he would never walk again. And that he refused to take that diagnosis. And He willed himself, he visualized himself back to health, he healed himself using the power of his mind. Now, this was back in 1972, when there wasn't a lot of science to back up the visualizations and what happens when you visualize to the, to the your physiology, when you do things like that, but he was able to not only be able to get his legs back his arms back, which he did over the course of a couple of years. But he also went back and competed at a college level, on a national level, again, as a gymnast, and the one specific move that broke his neck. When he went back. He did it again, one more time, just to prove to himself that he could do it. And he did. His story is truly inspiring. And I cannot wait for you to listen to it. So let's dive in. I'd like to welcome to the show, Gary Buckmann. How you doing, Gary?

Gary Buckmann 0:15
Good, Alex, thanks for having me.

Alex Ferrari 0:16
Thank you so much for being on the show, man. I mean, you and I met, kind, it's a little bit over a year ago now a year and change ago. Or more than that, because Because COVID says private like it's been, it's been almost a couple years now almost, that we met at a great event. And we were sitting there eating lunch between lectures, and your beautiful wife started up this conversation about telling him telling me and my wife about your story, which we just sit there, like, in awe of the story that you were, I was sitting there, like, what's going on? And then you came over and start talking about this amazing story. And I remember then I'm like, where's the book? And, and, and Victoria, your wife says, Oh, he's working on he's working on it. And what did I tell you what, at that meeting?

Gary Buckmann 1:06
You said, you said, Gary, it's important, you need to finish that book, finish that book, man,

Alex Ferrari 1:11
Finish it and get it out there because the world needs this story. So first, before, I just want to know, how can you tell me just get get into the story of broken to brilliant, what is, you know, I don't want you to tell me the entire story because I would be the audio book. But tell me the story of broken, brilliant, it is brilliant.

Gary Buckmann 1:32
Thank you. Well, it's about you know, when I was in college, I was a top level gymnast. And one day at practice, I was doing a vault that only two or three people in the country were trying at the time. And I took off on the wrong foot. And I landed on my head for about eight and a half feet near from a full speed run. Knocked me completely out. When I regained consciousness, my neck was broken. And I was paralyzed. How old 20 years old? Just turned 20. Yeah. So my sophomore year in college. And so I was in the I went to the hospital, obviously. And I was in traction 24/7 I was there for like eight weeks, about four weeks into my stay. My doctor came in and said, Gary, you're not responding to any of the treatments. So you're going to be paralyzed for the rest of your life. And I said, No, that's not my plan, Doc. And so I did a lot of visualization. And but I think the main thing was, you know, something inside of me told me, you know, that I could heal myself. And at the time, I really wasn't aware of what that was. And know, in hindsight, I know now that's, you know, my Higher Self, God, you know, the universe telling me, you know, hey, you can do this. And so I healed myself. It took me three years total to get back into competition. I competed again, I did the vault, I broke my neck, I went on to a coaching career and a private club system. And I developed the program that, you know, it was a sequential BASIC program that taught total body awareness. And my kids were so successful that they asked me to be on the USA coaching staff, and I got to travel all over the world with the USA team. So that's kind of the story in a nutshell, right!

Alex Ferrari 3:33
In a nutshell. All right. So let's, let's go back a little bit. Let's dig, let's dig a little deeper into this. Alright, so you are you you? What goes through your mind as a 20 year old? You know, essentially, man, boy, it's relatively speaking. Because I know I wasn't a man at 20. You might you might have definitely been, but I definitely wasn't. So at 20 as a 20 year old guy, you get the news that the doctor comes in and says, You're not going to walk anymore. What does that do to your? What does that what does that what's that conversation like?

Gary Buckmann 4:07
Oh, man, your your inner mind chatter just goes, you know, ballistic, and you know, any anything and everything you can imagine, you know, any kind of emotion, you know, like, instantly you're thinking, okay, you know, am I gonna be like, distressed my life? Is anybody ever going to love me? What are my parents gonna think? Am I gonna be able to go back to school? You know, what am I going to do? I can't even take care of myself, you know, at that time, you know, they were feeding me bathing me helping me go to the bathroom. I mean, you know, I was an invalid. And at that front, you know, right, then, you know, at that point, you know, I had gained everything in my life through the physical, you know, through physical fields. Oh, and I was noticing I was a gymnast, and people recognize me for that talent. And so I was, you know, your whole life change. You're like, Oh, my God, you know, who am I? You know, who am I now that I can't do all this stuff, you know, and then what am I? What is my life gonna be like? And that I mean, I totally freaked out.

Alex Ferrari 5:03
So you are so at that point, and the doctor says, You're not going to walk again. So obviously you, your entire world comes crashing down around you. What inside you told you that? You can, you can, this is not your diagnosis, like there's that voice. But you there was no tools. It's not like you had that bug, oh, let me get that book on how to heal yourself using visualization. Like there's how do you how do you get to that point? Like, at what point did you just say, You know what, I'm going to heal myself? How did you get from my life is over to know, it's not over? And I'm gonna take control. How did? How did you get there?

Gary Buckmann 5:44
Yeah, you know, what I did was, you know, I remember after, when the doctor gave me those, those words, you know, everything just kind of went blank, you know, and he kept talking. And it was like chatter in the background, just noise. And I remember telling the nurses, you know, don't let anybody in to see me today, I need a whole day to myself. And I took a whole day. And I just went through the gamut of emotions and freaked out and everything. And then I, you know, and I kind of gave myself that, you know, being an athlete, you know, you kind of have a mindset of, you know, like, you got you got a timetable. So I thought, Okay, I'm going to give myself 24 hours to just feel it all, and freak out and do whatever, you know, and there's no timetable. You could, you know, people might need longer than that, but I just gave myself 24 hours. And then after the 24 hour period, I said, Okay, I don't know how, you know, but I'm going to heal myself. And I think a lot of it had to do you know, with my bringing up as a child, you know, I was, you know, brought up in the 50s and 60s, and we didn't have a lot of money. I mean, we weren't poor, but you know, when when I asked for things, a typical answer is no, we you can't afford that. You can't have that, you know, no. And so, you know, all the time, I figured out ways to to get things, you know, one of the things that I talked about in the book is is a unicycle story is I saw, you know, these this unicycle club in a parade for the July parade. And, man, it was so impressive. And I thought, that's what I want to do. And I asked if I can have one. And you know, my dad said, Well, let's see how much they are. Of course, they were as much as a house payment in those days, you know? So they said, No, you can't have that. And I'm thinking, Oh, my God, you know, I'm devastated. And I thought, you know, well, I thought, Well, can I build one? You know, and my dad was? Yeah, you know, we have an old tricycle. You know, so I built one. So it's kind of like, my upbringing kind of thought, you know, made me get creative. And, you know, every time I got a lot of no answers in my life, you know, and so I thought, well, this is no different. He gave me a no answer. And I said, No, I'm going to figure some other way out of this. You know, and a lot of it had to do to be honest with you, Alex, is my mother, my mother was a driving force in our family, and she was four foot 11 and 90 pounds, you know, and she was as tough as a farm girl. And she always told me no matter what, you know, if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything. And she always kept reminding me, dynamite comes in small packages. So I think it had a lot to do with, you know, you know, my mom's influence, and then, you know, just me, you know, just figuring things out, you know, from childhood.

Alex Ferrari 8:07
So, okay, so, what's the actual process in your mind? Like, when you decide to, like, I'm going to start building myself up again? What did you do? Like, what is that process like in your mind? Or you'd like to start literally reconstructing your, your, your back? In your mind? How do you do that?

Gary Buckmann 8:25
Yeah, you know, it's like, you know, being a gymnast, you know, we visualized our routines all the time, you know, and, you know, we'd see, I'd see myself doing my routines and hitting them and doing and then I go out and perform them. So I started using visualization. And I was a physical education major. So I had taken anatomy and physiology, so I know how the human body worked. So I visualize the nerve impulses going from my brain, you know, through the neural pathways into my muscles and making them work again, I got real specific about that kind of thing. But I also saw myself, you know, back all the way healed, you know, back with my teammates back in school, back in the gym, working out back competing again, in knacker gym in front of 6000 people, you know, going on to my dream job, you know, as a coach in the private club sector, all of that I you know, and and I would actually feel that too, you know, I would, I would, I would see it, and I would feel it, and, you know, I just utilized what I had at the time, you know, and visualization was my, my most powerful tool because, you know, I was flat on my back contraction staring at the ceiling. So I didn't have anything else to do, you know, you know, so I just, I just did that. 24/7 And another thing that that was very, very important, you know, how we never do anything in our life alone. I had this amazing support team, and they were my teammates, who were also my roommates. We all lived in a team house together. And I you know, I had to ply think back on it now. And here's a bunch of other 20 year olds, right. And we're all living together and they're in school. And they made sure I don't know how they did this because I was, you know, in the hospital didn't think about this. But they made sure that every day somebody was at the hospital supporting me, sometimes multiple people, but every day I was they were there. And from their support, and me visualizing, you know, I got I got my legs back, and was able to walk

Alex Ferrari 10:30
So so you're visualizing it in your mind. And when do you how long does it take before you actually feel or see something? Because I'm imagining this doesn't happen overnight. This takes time to do so. When did you actually first see something? How many weeks? How many days? How many months? How many hours?

Gary Buckmann 10:49
Yeah, you know, exactly. That's a great question. Because, you know, it was exactly like two weeks to the day almost when I got the news. And, of course, I had been visualizing from day one, you know, almost, you know, so I've been visualizing for six weeks total. Now, with that, after the news. And one day, one of my roommates came in, you know, and teammates came in, and I said, you know, today's the day, did he say for what? I said, today's the day, I'm going to wiggle my toes. They go really? He goes really? Yeah. So I said, pull up the sheet, you know, on and I'm going to say now and you tell me if they move because I can't see him. So I he goes, Okay, and I said, Okay, here we go. And I said now and he goes, Yeah, they move and I said, Okay, I'm going to do it again, to make sure it's not a muscle twitch. And I said, Okay, here it goes. He goes, Yeah, they moved. And then I started kicking my leg, and then I got my legs back, and I was able to walk again. But my arms were still gone. My arms did not respond for a long, long time. But, you know, two weeks later, the doctors came in and said, You know what, there's nothing more we can do for you. It was America, you got your, you know, you got your leg back, you can walk again, but we're just gonna send you home. So they actually sent me home. And I went home with with the guys back to the team house. With no arms.

Alex Ferrari 12:04
So okay, so, okay, this is amazing. What year was this around?

Gary Buckmann 12:09
This was 1972.

Alex Ferrari 12:11
Okay, so 1972. So technology. I look, I was born in 74. So I remember, I remember, I remember the 70s I remember that the technology wasn't wasn't that advanced. So they thought that you were never gonna walk again. And yet they saw your feet move and your legs move. What did the doctor say?

Gary Buckmann 12:36
He had no explanation. And that's, you know, he just said it was like he said, You know, it's America, let your leg came back, you know, and that and that, you know, that you're walking again. He says, you know, but you know that, but you know, I'm just gonna keep telling you know, that. That's, that's, that might be all you get, you know. So it's like, you know, they said, there's nothing more they could do for me. So they released me, but yeah, and those days, all we had was X rays, there was no MRIs. So they don't know what they can't see all of the things that they can see nowadays until you you know. And so that's all they had to go by was an x ray. And then they and all of the treatments they were giving me for the, you know, for the complete time I was in there. I wasn't responding. So they said, Well, that's it, you know, and, you know, I think one of the things that people need to know, you know, I mean, I, I, I love to my doctor, you know, and he helped me and he put me back together and stuff. But, you know, I just didn't want to accept his diagnosis and prognosis fully, you know, completely, you know, so I, I, I don't, I wouldn't ever say not to listen to your doctor, because they're great people, and they help people. But also, you know, discern what you need and what works for you and what doesn't work for you what

Alex Ferrari 13:47
The diagnosis was true. You broke it back. I mean, that that yeah, that was that's reality. The reality is that you broke your neck, you're you are paralyzed. That's not in question. That question was, can I come back? And that's where Dr. Sometimes, aren't you that's where you need. That's where the wiggle room is. As far as listening? Because, yeah, the prognosis the prognosis is like, Look, you this is what happened, this is the diagnosis, your back is broken. Yep. Now, during those first six weeks, when you're doing visualization, essentially, almost 24 hours a day, and you've got nothing else to do. How did you get through that that time? I mean, you had to like, I mean, mentally, that must have been extremely tough for you. At a certain point, you must have some doubt fallen in there is going, what are you doing? This is ridiculous. Just accept what there has to be that voice in your head during this time, right? Just accept what what the universe has given you and move on and maybe you'll have some sort of a life, you know, and it's that that voice was there, correct?

Gary Buckmann 14:53
Yes, that voice was there. You're you have loud and clear all the time, you know, and, and like I said, you know, it was it was good that I had this supporting my teammates. But one of the things that, you know, I talked about in the book is my roommate, I had a roommate next door to me, his name was oral. And he was in there for a hip replacement. He was 70 something years old. And that guy got me through, I swear to God, he would talk to me, you know, like, I remember, you know, the next day when I woke up, you know, from, you know, the nightmare. And I was by myself and I was, you know, and I was scared and frayed. And this soothing voice comes from, you know, there's a divider, you know, a curtain again, so we can't see each other and I can't turn to look and see him or nothing. But he goes, Hey, says, He, Hey, good morning, roomie. My Name Is Earl, and you know, and I said, Hello, Earl. I'm Gary. And then we started talking, and he talked to me every day, you know what I mean? And he gave me like, insight and new perceptions, new perceptions on life, you know, like, we would talk about everything from, you know, our childhood to friends, you know, girlfriends, you know, accidents, whatever, you know, we talked about everything in life. And he his wisdom, you know, you know, I'm 20 He's 70 something, you know, I would say what, you know, I'd say what I was feeling, he goes, Well, you know, you might want to look at it like this, you know, and he would give you give another perspective. And he got me through I swear, man, he, you know, and we talked for a good month before he could get up and walk and come over and see me. And that was that was exciting and thrilling when he got when we finally got to meet face to face. And he was everything that I imagined, you know, like, you know, the jolly face and the balding hair and, and, you know, and he was he was, he was just great.

Alex Ferrari 16:48
So during the toughest time in your essentially in your entire life up to that point, arguably of your life period. The Universe sends you an angel, especially, and that angel is sitting next to you. And I you know, if whether you believe in the universe, you don't I mean, obviously, if you're listening to this podcast, there's some sort of belief in something of a higher power. But isn't it weird that you didn't get the crotchety old guy who's like, shut up, kid? Yeah, it's okay. I went I was in I was in WWE to, this is why you didn't get that guy. Cuz you arguably could have gotten that guy. But you got a beautiful soul that just was there to help you and guide you and teach you and, and kind of just walk you through this. This valley of pain that you were going through? Isn't it amazing how the universe works?

Gary Buckmann 17:42
Yes. Yeah. I mean, I'm getting goosebumps right now you're talking about? It's like, yeah, Angel URL. And that was just that was that was that was God the universe just helping me out completely. Because without him, I swear, I probably would have went crazy.

Alex Ferrari 17:58
That I was gonna say like, when when I heard this story originally, I'm like, Okay, you're sitting there. You can't move. You're looking up into the, into essentially a white ceiling. I'm assuming you can't move. Did you were able to move your neck at all, or no,

Gary Buckmann 18:10
No, no, no, that traction was so tight that, you know, I can hardly open my mouth. They, they would, they would have to take the traction off so that they could feed me and then put it back on again.

Alex Ferrari 18:19
So you were basically locked into one white wall. So that's maddening. I mean, that's, that's madness for any human being just to be locked like that. So yeah, I was just thinking to myself, before we started talking, I was like, if you're locked in there for like, a month or two, hell a day or two. You lose your mind if you got but luckily, you did have your your teammates and you had Earl Angel Earl, there guiding you through this entire process. That's remarkable. So you you start moving your legs. And and you're Are you able to walk out?

Gary Buckmann 18:52
Yeah, I you know, cuz I remember, you know, Earl would say, I'm going to come over and see you today, you know, and then and I remember, you know, he walked off and walk down the hallway. And I told him I said, Well, pretty soon I'll be I'll take walks with your I promise, you know. And so after the, you know, after I got my legs back, and then I you know, within a day or two, you know, I was taking walks with Earl so we walked for together, you know for about a week and a half before I got released, you know,

Alex Ferrari 19:20
And then but you had but your arms wouldn't react

Gary Buckmann 19:23
My arms wouldn't wouldn't come back.

Alex Ferrari 19:25
So how long did it take? So when you're once you're home, you have your legs back, but you have no arms. So how long before and what's the because there's a different process with being in the hospital interaction with Angel URL and you and your teammates. Where did you go back home? Did you go back to the where the teammates were? Where did you go?

Gary Buckmann 19:49
Yeah, I went back to the team house. I went home with the guys they came and picked me up all of them came and picked me up and somebody told me yeah, now now that now they were my you know, nursemaids. They were they were having to feed me and bathe me and, you know, dress me and, you know, that's amazing. It is I mean, you know, and and the thing about it was the 20 year old mentality was the exact medicine I needed to, you know, to feel normal again, you know, they didn't treat me any differently. You know, and I was above a lot of jokes and everything, you know, and, you know, and, and, and they had interesting ways of feeding me, like, you know, like, from across the table with a spoon and trying to get in my mouth, you know, so I look like I've been in a food fight, but I got fed, but that wasn't all the time. So you know, I'm, you know, it's just, you know, they just end the treat me like normal, and then make a big deal out of it, you know, and also to, you know, like, when I started to have a, you know, a self pity party or something, you know, start feeling down and out, you know, they would, they would give me, you know, they get right on me, they get right on vacation, and hey, we're not listening to this negativities crap, you know, snap out of it, man, you're with us, you know, we know what you're gonna do, you know, so I'm at, they kept me on the straight and narrow to, they supported me. And then they, they gave me tough love.

Alex Ferrari 21:06
Because you I mean, during that process, even after you already had the proof that your legs were able to come back. But when the arms weren't reacting as quickly as you would like them to, I'm assuming that doubt started coming in that anger started coming in. And you had to, because when you're in the room alone, there's not a lot, but when you start seeing your friends and the life that you should be living in, in your mind, I got to believe that anger just starts bubbling up. So how did it was it was your teammate that helped you get through that, but I'm assuming there's also those times quietly, when your teammates weren't around that you dealt with that? How did you deal with it?

Gary Buckmann 21:43
Well, you know, I think, you know, it helped me in 20. But also, I really, at the time, I didn't think a lot about it, but I was turning inward, you know, I was turning inward to just calm myself down. And, and, and, you know, believe in myself, but you know, at that time, I didn't realize, you know, that was the love of my higher self, and God speaking to me, threw me at me with me, you know, but I didn't get it. Because I was so young, you know, and, but yeah, I did a lot of just being quiet and, you know, thinking about, you know, you made a decision. And, you know, you got all this support, you're gonna make it, you're going to make it, you know, it doesn't look good. Now, it doesn't look, you know, like, like, you know, not all the time you're going to be up. But, you know, I just kept thinking, I can do this, I can do this, I can do this, like anything, any goal that I set for myself. And one of the things that kept me going, Alex, to be honest with you, was the fact that when, if the, if the nerve impulses and the feeling and the sensation with all the way to my toe, for sure, it's coming back to my arms that's closer to the brain, it's got to come back. So that's what kept me going a lot. I was like, Okay, if it went there, it's coming here.

Alex Ferrari 23:04
It's just gonna take its time, it's gonna take its time to get there. So you still, you're visualizing still every day?

Gary Buckmann 23:09
Yeah, all Yeah, every day. And I would go up every night, you know, in my room, and I would, you know, I could swing my arms from my shoulders, you know, I could shoot my torso, and I'd swing an arm up into my lap. And I would just sit there, you know, and look at my hand, you know, and I just be going, No, mo, mo, you know, I just, I just wanted to open my fingers, you know, and, but I would do that every night, you know, and, you know, and then you're always in pain to cause to back muscles or spasming to protect a spinal cord, so you never can get comfortable. You're just always in pain, you know. And, you know, just to let you know, I it was probably, I was, you know, the doctor, when I got out, the doctor was having me come in, like, every two weeks for checkups, but a lot of times, you know, he would have to cancel because he was an orthopedic surgeon, and he'd have surgery or whatever. And, and he kept telling me the same old thing, you know, like, we don't know, and this is, you know, this is it, you know, and I'm so I got tired to go into. So I stopped going to, you know, because I thought, you know, I'm healing myself, I got my teammates, you know, I'm living my life to heck with this, you know, so I stopped going to them. And probably about three months later, I woke up one morning, and all the pain was gone. And I thought, Oh, my God, you know, like, I'd forgotten about this sensation of being pain free, you know that because I was constantly hurting all the time. And I thought, wow, this is cool. You know, I took it in a little bit. And then I started saying, Okay, well, why is this happening? You know, why? Why am I not hurting? You know, what's the deal here? You know, so, you know, I had the guys called the team, Dr. Manhattan called the doctor and I went in for an appointment. And of course, he was he was furious. You know, he hadn't seen me in three months. You know? He wasn't very happy. Where the hell have you been? You know, how the heck yeah, yeah. You have me help you if you don't show up, you know, I say, Well, you know, I said, He's where you finish and I've been not healing myself, Doc, you know, I, you know I,

Alex Ferrari 25:09
I want to stop it Oh, and stop you for there for a second. This is like 72 73 you saying I'm out healing myself is essentially quackery is your your you've lost your mind. In today's world, it's slightly more acceptable. It's why there's so much information about visualization and Dr. Joe Esper, forgot his name.

Gary Buckmann 25:31
Joe Dispenza. Yeah, he's got all the science now.

Alex Ferrari 25:34
So there's science behind all this stuff. As far as the visualization. In fact, there's an actual thing behind it. But I can only imagine, I would love to be in the room with you just a 20 year old looking at a doctor who's probably in his 50s or 60s at that point in the game, look at it, you go in here, you're mad, you're mad. I just wanted everybody to understand the, the world that we are living in when this has happened is not today's world. It is definitely a different time.

Gary Buckmann 26:01
Yeah, it was. And, you know, so he goes, Well, we need to take X rays. And so you know, my, you know, my inner chatter says they are fine. Go ahead, take your stupid X rays, you know. And so I'm anticipating good news, you know, because I'm figuring, you know, it's been like, gosh, nine months or more since the injury. And so he comes back and he goes, you need an operation? Immediately. I go, what, what are you talking about? He says, he says, Come over here, you know, and so he puts the X ray up in the, you know, on the machine, you know, and lights it up. And of course, you know, like I said, I'm a PE major. So I know what the spinal column supposed to look like? Well, now, you know, the initial injury was a compression fracture, where I landed on my head, and it disintegrated the disc between the vertebrae and cracked the vertebrae in half. And also it's subluxated. And it's and it slid it like this, you know, oh, my God, what the back muscle spasm then pulled everything back into place. So you know, when the original X rays, they said, Yeah, your neck broken, but everything's aligned. Well, now the back muscles finally loosened up? Well, it's slipped back out. And there was like a big bone spur growing out the front of one of my seventh vertebrae where the body was trying to heal itself. And the vertebrae was still cracked, and you know, cracked. And so he goes, he goes, you know, how much a millimeter or two is? And I said, Yeah, he says, Well, that's what your vertebrae is hanging on by, he said, someone can come up and slap you on the back to say, Hello. And that vertebrae of slip off cuts, your coordinates, either gonna kill you, or you're gonna go down and be a quadriplegic for the rest of your life. And I'm like, going, Oh, my God, you got to be kidding me. You know, like, all this. I think I'm healing. And now you're telling me I'm a walking time bomb, and I could die? What are you out of your mind? You know, he says, Yeah, you need an operation a meeting, and we have to scheduled within the next day or two, because you know, you, I don't want you to walk around. And so I said, Okay, so you know, so I had I had an operation, you know,

Alex Ferrari 27:58
Because at that point, you're like, there's the X ray. I I've taken classes. I understand what that means. Yeah. So you so they put your your back back? Yeah. Yeah. Your arms yet? They're not yet. Yeah. Oh, yeah. No. So they so you put they put you back in. And they I guess they bolt you together, like Frankenstein or something.

Gary Buckmann 28:22
But they actually, they actually cut a bone chip out of your hip out of your iliac crest. And they put it in between and they let it you put your neck and let it fuse together naturally as a bone. So my sixth and seventh rib Ray is one big bone now. Just one, one vertebrae. So it's, it's it's natural. It's not you know, I don't have any screws or anything in there. So but it took six months. Yeah, it took six months for that to happen. But then it's like, okay, you know, you hear about hip pointers, or a bone bruise or something. Oh my gosh, now I got this other pain in my hip. And everybody goes, well, how's your neck? My neck is fine. My hip is killing me.

Alex Ferrari 28:56
And your 20 And you're 21 at this point probably.

Gary Buckmann 29:01
Yeah, so I had to had to walk that off. You know, so

Alex Ferrari 29:03
So how many so how many months? Did it take you? Or how many years it take you before the arm start coming back?

Gary Buckmann 29:08
Well, it took me You know, I had the operation of September. And in November, I was out walking in one on one of my typical walks. And you know, it's cold up there and Chico. And all of a sudden, I felt the cold on my hands. And I noticed that my arms were swinging. I'm like, oh my god, I stopped dead in my tracks. And then, you know, and I and I thought, Okay, so with a thought I lifted my arms up, you know, Ben, um, you know, and then I, you know, I wiggled my fingers, you know, and I'm like, Oh, my God, you know, and I put my I'm back, I'm back, you know, like, Thank God, I'm back, you know, and so that's when the the motor in the sensory came back, you know, so it had been almost, you know, Senate so it was, I broke it in February, and I got all the total feeling back in middle of November.

Alex Ferrari 30:00
So, so okay, and then the question is, though, you have you've got your arms back. Now you got and then from the point where you're like, oh my god, a miracle has happened. Finally I am. I'm back. Yeah. Now most human beings, Gary would stop there, Gary, they would just go. Thank you. Thank you, universe. Thank you, God. Thank you. I'm gonna go on and live a normal life. Yeah. But Gary said no. Gary said, no. You know, I really want to hit that thing I was trying to hit when I broke my neck. I'm gonna go back into comp. What?

Gary Buckmann 30:45
Yeah, I just thought that was a natural path. I just

Alex Ferrari 30:47
Obviously, obviously, Gary. Yeah. You understand? You understand for my, for most human beings. You're not You're not well.

Gary Buckmann 30:55
Yeah, somebody's telling you know, it's funny. I told that story to somebody else, you know, and they go, you need to have your head examined. You know, I said, Well, yeah, I don't know. But yeah, so you know, yeah. And so it took me from that point, this was, you know, now, you know, in 1973. So it's like, I I, it took me probably about 18 months to get all the way back. 1974 75 season was my best did my senior year, I stayed around an extra year for college, sent innocence, I got hurt. And that that year was my best season ever.

Alex Ferrari 31:31
And you just started working out? Are you still visualizing during this entire time?

Gary Buckmann 31:35
Oh, yeah. Yeah, still visualizing and doing things and not and, you know, that he gave me, he gave me this little goose, you know, there's little goose ball thing, you know, that, that became like an extra appendage of my body, I was like squeezing that thing in my jacket pocket all day long. And, you know, and then I had to learn how to, you know, I had to get all my dexterity back. So he said, you know, you got to learn how to touch your fingers, like this forward and backwards, which I couldn't do at the time, I you know, I couldn't do that. And I couldn't make a fist. And so I had to get all my, you know, my fine motor skills back first. So I could, you know, and I had a lot of incentive, because I wanted to be able take care of myself, I wanted to be able to feed myself again, and, you know, dress myself, but my own pants and knock on stuff. So I got all that back. And then I started working on the strength and I assessed my upper body strength immediately, which, you know, after three weeks of non use of muscles, they start to atrophy. So it's been nine, you know, nine months, you know, total, almost, you know, now it's like, you know, you you atrophied away to nothing, and I'm not that big of a guy anyway. So I had to, you know, I had to come back, you know, I couldn't support myself, I couldn't even you know, support myself on my arms, like I, you know, like, look like a gymnast would get some of this good, you know, I couldn't even get up on my arms, you know, so, I had to come back. So it took, you know, a sigh. But I, I made sure that you know, that I, in my training that I trained all the all the basic things that I needed, and I got all my strength and flexibility back, and I actually came back stronger than when I left before the injury.

Alex Ferrari 33:00
Interesting. So you came back strong. What do you what do you why do you think that that is?

Gary Buckmann 33:05
Well, I think just because, you know, I wanted to make sure that, you know, I trained the right way and didn't leave anything out, you know, so and I wanted to, you know, and I was older now to you know what I mean? You're like guys physically mature later, you know, it's true. Yeah, you know, now, you know, but I'm one of the things that I didn't realize at the time was, how much fun I thought it was when I was in high school. And my younger years in college, doing strength, you know, strength workouts were like, exciting, fun, you know, I'd like I like doing that, you know, and now it's like, Oh, my God, this is hard. You know, it's like, this is cuz I'm coming from way below what I've ever been before. And I had to come back. I'm like, going, Oh, my God, this is this is, you know, depressing, almost, you know, but I, but it was motivation and incentive to come back. And so I told myself, you know, one of the things that I did that day that I got my arms back, was I'm in I've made a promise to God in the universe at that point that, you know, I'll never take this body of mine for granted again, I will never do that. I will, I will keep it healthy. And today, you know, this year, I turned 70. So, you know, I'm still working out, and I'm still bouncing on the trampoline with my grandson's. And so, you know, I've kept my word that way. But yeah, it kind of drove me to, to actually, you know, make sure that when I came back, I'd come back stronger. And I also had to overcome some things because, like, you know, you have all these little extrinsic and intrinsic muscles in your hands to hold on to things and holding on to the apparatus was one of my biggest things coming back I, you know, I was strong enough to do things but I didn't have the hand strength anymore. Because, you know, and I to this day, I still have one hand, it's not all the way back. That's the only thing I have. I mean, it works. But you can see my if you ever see me, you know, you'll see that one hand has all the muscles in and the other hand is like little So I had to overcome it by the forearm, the forearm strength had to get so strong to hold on to things, you know, and I, I had to make sure that I can hold on to the apparatus, you know, before I could come all the way back. So I had to keep working and working and working and working.

Alex Ferrari 35:12
The one thing I find interesting is that, and I think this is something that the universe does to us all the time, where you got your arm back, you got your arms back, but that was just the beginning of the conversation, that, you know, you got your legs back, but that was just the beginning of the conversation. It's like, now we're giving you a seed, it's time for you to grow it and start for you to put the work in and build it back up the you're gonna have to do the work well, we'll open the door, but you got to go through it, and you're gonna have to do the work. And that was what I when you get your arms back. You needed to do an insane amount of work to come back. And that just become back to do your normal stuff. But then you also wanted to compete again, because again, Gary's not well, so. I mean, we've, we've established that already. So you had to do even so much more work. And I think that's something that people don't understand is that when, you know, the higher power the universe, God gives you something. They think, Oh, that's it? I'm good. Like, nope. It's like, it's like, in my world, you know, if you get apart if you get a project, a film project, and you're like, Okay, you've just got financed to make a movie. That's, that's the beginning of the conversation. Some directors don't understand that. Sometimes, like, Oh, I'm good. I'm like, no, no, you're not. Now the real work starts. Yeah. Because you thought the work to get here was the real work? No, no, no, no. Now the real work starts. And that's where many people just fall because it just it because it took so much. Listen, look, I can't even comprehend. Trying to rebuild my body with visualization for six weeks, in a room in a hospital in 1972, looking up at a white ceiling, that's an insane amount of work. But then when you get your feet, your legs back, you're like, Nope, that's just now the beginning of the conversation, I think that's a lesson that the audience should really take is that when you're giving that little nugget that you've been looking for, most of the time, the work starts there, do you agree?

Gary Buckmann 37:18
I do totally, totally, I'm excited. You know, I think, you know, like, when one of the things that we need to do, you know, in our life, and one of the things that I've wanted to share with the book was, you know, like, connecting the dots of your life, being able to see the Gifts in Every experience, or, you know, programming that you've got or reprimand or whatever, you know, the so called bad things, you know, quote, bad things that happened to your life are actually, most of the time the catalysts for all of the amazing things that happened in your life, you know, and like you said, when the universe gives you something, then you take that gift, and you run with it, you know, and I think that really propelled me, you know, like, the comeback to the competitive thing really helped me, you know, in my career, you know, because there was a lot, you know, when I got my dream job back with my, you know, mentor back at the private club business, you know, and I, and I got there, you know, I'm there, it's like you said, yeah, there's the beginning, right? Well, first day on the job, I realized that, oh, my gosh, you know, I don't have spotting skills. I don't know how to spot these kids through these in manipulating through these moves safely. You know, and surely, me, I'm not gonna let somebody get hurt, you know, and I thought, oh, my gosh, my career is over before it started, you know, I don't know how to spot I'm done. But no, you know, so I had to figure a way to learn how to spot you know, safely, no, before practice, you know, with with little kids and do everything. So it's like, yeah, here you go, you know, and so, it's like anything, it's, I think, one of the things that, that athletes have, that you hear a lot of, you know, like, you know, you need to get back to the basics. basics are very important, you know, but the reason that the basics are important, is because of the struggle. basics are so boring and a pain in the rear end and are so repetitive and like oh my god, you know, but when you do it, it develops so much awareness and strength and you know, ability, that it allows you to reach your full potential. And I think when people like you said if they can see the gift, and then take it on from there, they're going to be able to reach their full potential.

Alex Ferrari 39:26
I mean, you you are, you're not only an inspiration, but I find that I find that when you are going through what you were going through, and you're seeing the the the negative thing, all the bad things that this is a bad look. It's a bad thing to be broken neck at 20. Most people's life is over at that point. Those are the you went through so much struggle early in your life. I have to imagine that most of anything else you tackled in your life. You were like, at least I didn't break my neck. Yeah, that's it's pretty much all downhill at this point. Like you've already your atlas you've already lifted that that boulder up the up the mountain already at his young age. So almost anything that the world throws at you, and I'm not I'm not assuming that but um, but you know, I guess I am making that assumption that most things that are thrown in front of your path at that point, you're like, this, it didn't break my neck.

Gary Buckmann 40:30
Yeah, yeah, exactly. I'm not paralyzed. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And, and it's, and it's true, you know, because, you know, anything like, you know, like, I, I differentiated, you know, physical pain from emotional pain, you know, and I was good at physical pain. But I wasn't very good at emotional pain. And then when, you know, when I went through some emotional times in my life, I'm like, going, God, I thought you said, You'd only give me what I could handle, you know, that this is killing me. You know, it's like, you know, but you revert back to that, you know, that, that, you know, that training, you know, that stuff that I went through the struggle, and you and you can handle it, and you and you find that, yeah, it is true, you can handle anything, you know,

Alex Ferrari 41:11
Well, you have a foot in order for us to, to to grow as, as not only people but as souls through our adventure through this journey that we're going through in this life. You only learn by adversity, you only learn from the weight of life, just like in a gym, you're lifting weights, to grow your muscle, you need that weight, you need that stress, in order to go through it in order to grow. It's not fun. It's not easy. It is painful. I didn't want to go through breakups. When I was going through, I didn't want to go through a lot of the stuff that I went through. I mean, I wrote an entire book about how I almost made a $20 million movie for the mafia. And, and my life threatened for a year while I was meeting the biggest movie stars in the world at 20 at 26. So that is that is that was that was basically my broken neck. Yep. In my life. That was my broken neck. That was what I that was my journey that I had to go through. And it took me years to figure out and I'm talking over a decade to figure out the gift that that was, do I wish I didn't have to go through it. I look I'm sure in one way. If there's a there's a voice in your head, like, if you had the choice, would you do it again? Looking back, I said to myself, Yes, I'll go through it again, I absolutely would go through it again. Because I am who I am today because of it. At the time. I didn't want to deal with it at the time, I didn't want to go through it. But that's life. But you are much stronger. I call it shrapnel. It's the shrapnel of life. And you harden and you get stronger and you build this kind of almost armor going through life and these skills. Look at the skill sets of visualization that you've done, I'm sure have benefited you tremendously throughout your life. Is that fair?

Gary Buckmann 43:02
Yeah, it is completely, you know, and like you said, and see, like for me, you know, like, your, your journey, your story, you know, scares the heck out of me.

Alex Ferrari 43:15
And yours scares the hell out of me.

Gary Buckmann 43:17
Exactly. So yeah, it is, you know, that is his thing. And we, as you know, as spiritual beings, you know, you need to know that we can we can, you know, we there is a gift in the struggle, you know what I mean? And there is a gift in why people did things like, you know, like, so many of us, like, for me, I remember, I blamed my dad my entire life, for teaching me the way he did not he never reprimanded me. He never verbally abused me never do any of that stuff. He taught me so many skills. But I didn't realize, you know, like, when he was including me and all of these projects around the house and teaching me at the same time. Well, I didn't think you know, of him being on a time schedule, you know, to get things done, you know, around the house. It was like, you know, we would be working together. And all of a sudden, you see, he'd send me off to go get a tool, and then he'd finished the project, you know, while I was gone. You know what I mean? And so he, when I came back, you know, that screamed loud and clear to my little boy like, Okay, you're not good enough, you're not smart enough, you're not talented enough. And so I got angry, you know, and I got mad. So my dad, you know, he caused me to, you know, feel, you know, inferior, you know, and then it's like, like you said, I'm sitting in my kitchen here just like two or three years ago. And it hits me like a ton of bricks. Oh, my God. If my dad hadn't taught me the way he did, I wouldn't have coached the way I did. You know, because I didn't want that to happen to my students. So I came up with this kind of a coaching method, which made me successful. And I often you know, I got goosebumps talking about it right now like saying, Thank you, dad. Oh, my God, thank you for teaching me the way you did. I didn't appreciate it at the time. You know, but then again, I saw you know, here's the gift and I'm thinking, wow, I blamed him for that all my life. and make him the scapegoat. And that wasn't very there. That wasn't the truth.

Alex Ferrari 45:04
There is a perfect genius behind everything in the way it works. Yeah. And the older you get, the more you realize that. And, you know, you just turned 70 I'm 46. You know, I'm raising young children right now. And I'm seeing I'm seeing what's going on. And as you get older, you just start to realize, oh, okay, that that makes sense that like that, that revelation for you, that you just got a minute ago? Yeah. In the scope of your life. You know, it takes sometimes it takes a lifetime to figure things out like that. But my experience my that that horrific journey that I went through for a year of my life, is what made me and is the reason why I do a lot of the things I do. Because I always want people to avoid falling into these pitfalls, avoid these, this pain. And if I hadn't gone through that, I'm not sure I would have that empathy, that kind of empathy with humanity, if I hadn't gone through that. And you could be going through the worst thing ever. And someone listening to this right now you could be going through a broken back, you could be sitting in traction somewhere in the world right now. You could have, you know, an abusive family, you could be in the middle of a war, you could be whatever that is. Try to find the beauty in it. And I know it's so hard to say that, especially when you're in when you're in when you're in the weeds, it's hard to say it. And from where I'm sitting here, and we're from you're sitting there, everyone's like, listen, oh, it was really nice for you to say that. I'm like, No, but we're saying it from someone who's been there in our own world, and our own pain. Because, I mean, the late Dr. Wayne Dyer, who I loved here, he blamed his father for his drunk father, I think abandoned him. And he blamed so many things for him. And it took him years to understand that it was because of him, that he was able to do so many things. And he actually thanked him for doing what he did to him as negative, positive and in the scope of the universe. Positive and negative, good and bad, that doesn't really make that that's not a concept in the universe. You know, if a meteor hits our planet today, and destroy civilization, is it good or bad? From our point of view, it's bad if we step on an anthill, and thinking bad to us, we were just walking. Yeah. And that's where people really kind of have to get away from the good or bad thing. And again, you know, we're sitting where we're at right now, but you and I have both been through two very different experiences, but both terrify each other. Yes.

Gary Buckmann 47:58
You know, and I think, you know, and I've heard this somewhere before, you know, but I've adopted, you know, and I and I talked about in the book also is like, you know, if we can just grasp the concept, that life doesn't happen to us. It happens for us. Yeah, it's for us, you know, and once you grasp that concept, he's like, Oh, my gosh, you know, and when you can actually, you know, stop and look back on your life and see all the things he did and connect the dots in your life nicer. That's what you were saying, you know, that'll give you the awareness to see things from a whole new perspective, and that will transform and change your life.

Alex Ferrari 48:35
Absolutely. And now things when bad things or quote unquote, bad things happen to me or things that I feel that are negative, I always pull back for a minute and go, Okay, what is what's the silver lining here? Why is this happening? And why is it happening now? And I'm telling you, 10 out of 10 times, I can't see what's going on. All I could see was like, right here, this is what's happening in front of me. But if I wait a few months, or wait, maybe even a year or two or maybe a few hours, you go, Oh, that's why that happened. That's why I needed to, oh, I'm late. I'm late for that. That meeting because I had to run into my wife. You know, like, these are the things that the universe just does. And if you can see the silver lining in the negative and look at it, just like you said, it's happening for us, not to us, and in the whole thing to us his ego. egos. Ego is I have to ask you, I have to ask you this. Well, let's talk about ego for a second. Okay. I mean, you were I mean, I saw some pictures of you when you were young man. You were a good look and strapping young man. Thank you. You're a strapping young man. You're an athlete. You're in college. I'm sure everything was you know, you were getting you're going on dates. Having Life was good. You were on the gymnast team, and then this thing happens to you. Your ego must have been devastated and destroyed, and then it becomes vicious with you. I'm battling that ego. What? Like, did you just say Shut the hell up? I've got work to do.

Gary Buckmann 50:16
Yeah, you know, I think that to some extent, that's what I did. You know, I just kind of said, you know, shut up or Thank you, but no, thank you. I'm not listening to that, you know, I have I have this vision, I have this track, I'm on it, you know, and that's the way it is. And, you know, speaking of ego, you know, one of the, like, you said, how the universe works. You know, one of the reasons that I think, you know, like, I always tell people, you know, breaking my neck was probably one of the best things that ever happened to me in my life. And everybody looks at me, like, What do you mean? And I said, Well, I was going down the wrong path. Like you said, I in high school, gymnastics was kind of a joke. And we weren't really accepted as athletes, and nobody came to our competitions. I go to college, and we have 6000 people plus at all of our meats, and they're sold out. And I walk across campus, and everybody's Hi, Gary. Hi, Gary. Hi, Gary, you know, and you know, and girls are giving me notes and all that stuff, right? And your head goes, boom. Oh, yeah. You know what I mean? Like, oh, look at me, you know, I'm all you know, you know, yeah, I'm, you know, I'm big man on campus. Now, you know, and I'm doing this, I'm doing that, you know, now said, bam, you know, let's, let's take that away and see what happens.

Alex Ferrari 51:22
Yeah, exactly, exactly. In the exact and I'll give you my side, that's the exact same story. I'm 26. Hey, you're gonna make a $20 million dollar movie, hey, you're gonna meet some movie stars, hey, you're gonna do this, and like, this is gonna be the thing. My ego was like, sure I was, so I couldn't even fit in a building. And my ego was so big. And I would and if that movie would have gone, I would have self destructed, there's no question in my mind, I would have completely gone down the wrong path, I would have self destructed, I would have heard a lot of people, if I would have been given that kind of success at that moment in my life. So I needed an ex bipolar gangster, to threaten my life on a daily basis for a year to pummel me down to a place where I'm like, oh, and then come back a little bit. But that ego got a big weapon. Just like, you know, you got a big weapon, and it was a weapon that we needed. We needed it at that time in our lives.

Gary Buckmann 52:19
Yeah, exactly. You know, and, you know, in I, you know, I also talked about in the book to, like, you know, like, my ego is what, actually got me, you know, in trouble, you know, because, you know,

Alex Ferrari 52:29
We're trying to do something that only three other people in the country we're doing.

Gary Buckmann 52:34
And, and somebody said, you know, you're, you know, like, you're a perfect candidate for this fault. And I'm thinking, God, you know, what this will do for your career? And, you know, and then bam, like you said, you know, yeah,

Alex Ferrari 52:42
But also with that. So with that said, after, after everything you did, you went after it again. Was that ego? Or what was that that made you want to do it again?

Gary Buckmann 52:49
And, you know, I think a little both, because, you know, I, you know, to be honest with you, I did that vault again, but I only did it once. And I did it in practice, because my coach was kind of questioning my manlihood at the time to be nice.

Alex Ferrari 53:07
So, so fantastic. So fantastic. Coach got it really good up. A fantastic coach. Got it.

Gary Buckmann 53:13
Yeah. So I saw I looked at my teammates, and I said, Hey, Robert, you know, you know, I'm gonna throw the handspring front, and I hadn't thrown the dang thing since I got hurt. You know, but I trained myself, you know, in flipping, but you know, and he goes, Don't do it. Don't do it. I say no, I'm gonna shut him up. So it is ego and stuff. So, so I threw the vault in practice. Yeah, yep. He actually kicked me out of practice doing that, which was smart. But you know, but, but yeah, but I, but I just thought, you know, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do that. Just

Alex Ferrari 53:41
Just to prove so and the universe was kind enough to go he, he's, he's, he's done enough. It's okay. Let's give it to him again. But if he does it again, we're gonna slap him again.

Gary Buckmann 53:52
Exactly. And I did and I changed my vault. after that. I did a different vault. I didn't do. I didn't do that vaulting competition.

Alex Ferrari 53:59
So you gotta be careful that ego does get you it gets you but it was, it could get it could get you back. Can you imagine? Oh, my God, I can't even imagine if something would have happened again. Oh, my God, I'm scared it this is like what this is 50 years ago. And I'm like, Oh, God, girl. Yeah. Well, I mean, your story is remarkable. I really hope that people listening will find inspiration in it and understand that you can change things in your life. You can see the silver lining in, in the pain and the struggle, and that is what makes us stronger. That's what makes us grow. And it's very difficult to do it when you're in the middle of it. I mean, I can't I can't even grasp what you went through in those three years. Luckily, you are a young man as well, that happened when you were 20 and not 50. Because that's a different conversation. Yep, completely, completely different conversation. So there's an alignment that happened. That was a perfect timing for You for this this lesson. It was it was it was a giant life lesson and it completely shaped the rest of your life. As my as my, my experience shaped mine, I'm going to ask you a couple questions that I want to I want to hear your thoughts on. Why do you think we are here, as souls as people?

Gary Buckmann 55:24
I think the main thing is, is to share our gifts, because each one of us has a gift inside to share. And I think our you know, like, our souls destiny is to, to share that gift with the world. You know, and remember what it is. And I, I just, I just think that all of us are so special. And that, you know, we need to realize that, and that no matter what you you, no matter what your gift is, you know, whether it's just being good at cooking, or cleaning, or whatever it is, you know, it shared with the world, because it helps you know what I mean. And I think we're here to support each other. I think we're here to help each other. You know, and I think we're here to love each other.

Alex Ferrari 56:20
Okay, I couldn't have said it better myself. And what is your soul's mission here in this life?

Gary Buckmann 56:27
Ah, wow, you know, it's interesting, because I actually had a soul reading from a friend. They said, You know, you have the sixth sixth energy, you are a master creator, you know, and I didn't, you know, and all my life, you know, my soul has been telling me you need to do, you're going to do something big. And I never knew what that was, and I might have already done it. You know what I mean?

Alex Ferrari 56:52
I mean it was pretty, I mean, to be fair, you've done a couple things to be passed

Gary Buckmann 56:57
on, but, but it's like, you know, I just, you know, I, I, I just feel like, you know, I, I want to just be able to help create awareness, you know, for people to understand that they are capable of so much more than they have been told, by society or family or whatever that they're capable of doing. And, you know, if you look at me, you know, and I'm five foot seven, and 135 pounds, I'm not this big, you know, Superman or anything, but we all have the, the the mind is a great equalizer, but the the internal intelligence, you know, that we all possess, is going to allow us to do anything and everything that we we think that is so called impossible. And just have our mind, be this the servant of, you know, our soul,

Alex Ferrari 57:51
Our inner voice of that that inner intelligence that I always say to people look inside, look inward, because that is where you find a lot of the answers in life. Now, where can people find this amazing book and and find out more about you?

Gary Buckmann 58:08
Okay, so you can you can find the book at brokentobrilliant.com That'll take you right to the, to the site, and you can contact me through my website, Garybuckmann.com. And it's Garybuckmann.com.

Alex Ferrari 58:23
Fantastic. Gary, thank you for your story. Thank you for putting it on paper finally, and on e book and getting it out there into the world. And I hope that it inspires people around the world to to understand that they can change the circumstance no matter how dire it might be. So thank you so much for being on the show.

Gary Buckmann 58:43
Well, thank you, Alex. And thank you for doing what you do in the world. And thank you for spreading the word and thank you for your support in my early days when I was struggling with the book.

Alex Ferrari 58:52
My pleasure, my friend!

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