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Meet Bass Bridgforth of COLO in South Denver

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Bass Bridgforth.

Bass, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
“You need to get out. I’m sorry, but I can’t have you in my house.” I was just out of rehab and back in my home state, but with no home. My sister did what families do when one of their own is in crisis and gave me refuge in her spare bedroom. While I haphazardly attempted to keep the chaos of my life in order. But my mind was mayhem. I had a business hanging on by a thread. No place to live and I had to break up with my girlfriend of nine years.

I had intelligence, I had a functional and fit body despite the years of excess alcohol and extended swing dances with every drug under the sun, but my life had become an unmanageable burden and my mind only had broken solutions. She had brimming eyes- tears on the verge of torrenting forth, but the sternness in her throat and the rigidity of her jaw held them back. Her words carried weight. She was healing, just like me.

In 2015, exactly two months before my sister’s wedding, my father died in a hotel room alone. He had ostracized himself from our family, unofficially separated from my mother and was behind a cloud of financial uncertainty after leaving a company due to a shift in pay structure under new ownership. He was living alone when all he wanted was to be with the family he strived to provide for and to solve this problem, he turned to the same place that created the problem. Alcohol.

I walked my sister down the aisle in June 2015 alongside my brother, my uncles courted my sister in the father-daughter dance, and in that night despite being glossed over under a myriad of substances. I was forever changed. It took time for me to rewrite my story or, as Oprah would say ‘turn my mess into my message”, but the most pivotal experiences I had were in the Light of Yoga and in recovery meetings.

In August 2018, I finished my 30 day Yoga Teacher Training and in that time, I committed to a sponsor that would see me successfully through the 13 steps. I got into sober living, and I found myself in ways that hold true to this day. The sobriety I began on my mat in this training holds true to the man I am today. I found the backbone to my recovery. My mission since has been through the lens of addiction. How I can learn from it, grow through it, and lend a hand to others in the struggle.

I started two companies, Mile High Vibe Tribe, where I adopted the moniker the Sober Yoga SoulJah, where I provide counseling and structure for those in recovery. Showing people how to get high with No Substances Required. The other is called COLO. COLO stands for Conscious Love, which points to the choice we have in every moment Love or Fear.

The biological response for fear is the exact same as stress and we often contract and react into and through this state. Whereas, we have a choice to expand and greet life with open arms. This is a lifestyle brand that has just launched a flagship product, the GuruPad™. I have a solution to the pandemic-related yoga problem!

I’ve developed a yoga mat that uses colors and numbers on a grid-like system to show one where to put their hands, knees, and feet in 27 of the fundamental yoga poses to every yoga sequence. In just 20 minutes, in a mere two weeks, beginners will learn yoga well enough to lead a practice on their own or drop into a studio and feel right at home. I have five mats covering a range of 16 inches of height variance and, even more, interestingly, I used the Fibonacci Sequence and Ancient mathematics to design a mat for the user, no matter their height. The GuruPad™ offers a foundation for the perfect pose, every time! And, me oh my, does it work! 

Yoga down-regulates the nervous system – relieving stress, while strengthening our muscles and mind, as well as increase our physical and mental flexibility, bringing us back into harmony even when the world is in Chaos. I am proof of that. And I want to Give that Back to the People. We are all experiencing unhelpful, even destructive behavior patterns due to COVID anxiety.

On top of that, a Harvard study cited that yoga and meditation are a “tried and true method” for dealing with COVID anxiety, also stating ” learning something new” can be a great use of time while inside. So, I have felt called more than ever to step up my efforts to answer the call to serve. I am still serving my sober community with this project and given that most studios in Colorado have closed. The world of yoga needs more reasons to shed the weight of the world and Step into The Light.

This is the mat that will bring people into a world. We can contract, react, and get trapped, or we can expand, feel grand and be free. I spent the next few weeks living out of my car until my Yoga Teacher Training started. Thirty days 200 hours seven hours a day. Yoga calmed the stormy waters of my mind, detangled the traumatic knots and ties in my body, and freed my Soul to not just soar, but roar. Through pose, after pose, I was given the clarity to see. From that, I committed to a sponsor and joined a sober living house. I have since liquidated my arbor business and started two new ones. One entirely dedicated to sober. My life would never be the same.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I also have Lyme’s disease and Celiac disease (an auto-immune disease), which have caused me to reframe the pace at which I operate. I have built myself on my daily disciplines and then I built my companies. My key is to slow down-slow is smooth and smooth is fast, and to manage stress by entering peak states before pivotal endeavors or tackling large tasks. I have become a master at managing stress and monitoring my emotions. All of this through daily disciplines. Many practices that could be categorized under self-care or self-love rituals.

I rely heavily on the flow state to be productive. Ecstasis or flow-state is critical to productivity, learning, and creativity. Read the Rise of Superman or Stealing Fire by Steven Kotler and Jamie Wheal for more information on achieving the altered state of consciousness where you feel your best and perform your best. Or FLOW by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s. I teach a lot of this in my work with Mile High Vibe Tribe.

COLO – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We are a lifestyle brand that is launching out flagship product the GuruPad next month via a Crowdfunding campaign. Our specialty is in the realm of movement, breath, and meditation practices that empower the individual. Then connecting them to a community of kindred spirits.

We launched unique stick figure stories with inspiring messages, but our patent-pending mat that teaches a user yoga in just 20 minutes will definitely bring us notoriety. What distinguishes COLO is we firmly believe that we will not separate our spiritual lives from any aspect of our lives. So in everything we do, in all, we work with, and to all we serve, we will never compromise our unique values and practices for the sake of a dollar or to get an edge in business.

We plan to disrupt the corporate world. For example, meetings are started with breath-work and ended meditation Every time. No matter who they’re with.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
If I had to say one. I will never forget sitting on top of my dad’s shoulders with my hands wrapped around his bristled chin looking down on his bald spot listening to him whistle Swing Low, Sweet Chariot. He carried me everywhere like that. Probably past the day I outgrew him. That’s a spiritual transaction. When you pick a child up, you change their perspective. He still changes my perspective to this day, long past the day we buried him in the grave.

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