Our names are: Jordan Daly and Ally Bogard.
We’re known as: The founders of new self-discovery process, Upwards!
My expertise is in:
AB: Understanding people, relationship dynamics and leading groups.
JD: Trying to get every meal as close to macaroni & cheese as possible without using dairy.
I stay physically healthy with:
AB: It depends on the day, but I am currently alternating between Taryn Toomey and and Ali Cramer’s yoga class at the moment, and I walk everywhere.
JD: I take Christine Price Clark’s class at One Yoga regularly and I just picked up a trial pack at Spin Society. I also love Clara Roberts Oss' online classes
I keep my emotions balanced with:
AB: Byron Katie. Meditation. Having an incredible group of women. Being in the Woods. 5Rythyms.
JD: Byron Katie is my go-to. Also, Carolyn Budgell’s meditations and course on Insight Timer. Sitting in the sun for an hour in the middle of the day. Not reading the news.
Music: Hymns of Spirit, Emerson Leif, ford.
Structuring my day: I will create hour blocks in my calendar. I find it to be more spacious than not having a plan. So, it would read something like meditate, emails on X, yoga, lunch, emails on X, listen to X podcast or read etc.
I’m intellectually stimulated by:
AB: Daddy Issues on Instagram. I’m kidding.
So many things: The Moth, John Kabat -Zinn, Yoga Nidras by Tanis Fishman, The Met, traveling to immerse myself in a different culture.
JD: My man. He is in school studying osteopathy. I make him read his notes to me, and I take his library books.
A Mind at Home with Itself by Byron Katie & The OverStory by Richard Powers
Paul Hawken’s The Magic of Findhorn.
Richard Rohr’s Another Name for Everything podcast is epic—a must-listen for anyone looking to understand the “Cosmic Christ.”
I am on day 17 of the lookUP module on upwards, and I have written down something new everyday.
I was recently transformed by:
JD: I would say transformational moments are more subtle these days—hearing something that allows me to shift my perspective or taking four hours on a plane to do my own self-inquiry work.
I was in Paris for the first time in 10 years and spent hours in Shakespeare & Co. reading through books and felt inspired to include a lot of that into Upwards.
James Corden x Kanye Airpool Karaoke was a deep heart opening for me.
AB: Anytime I decide to actively learn something. Process is something that we humans have a hard time with because we want to know everything; we put identity in knowing all things. Learning something—a language, an instrument etc.—requires me to go through a process. In that, I always find issues and behaviors that may have not yet come the surface, which require subtle refinement.
In the last six months, the ritual that has become so important for me is:
AB: Committing to go study with a few teachers. There are a couple of programs that I have wanted to experience for a decade and have not made the time to do. I got really clear with my calendar and booked out the time to do them.
JD: Turning off my computer for a chunk of time—either starting later, a midday break, or closing it around 5pm for good.
My biggest net of communication at the moment is through my laptop. It’s necessary and also can quickly become consuming. There are a lot of beautiful things that make up the whole of my life that have nothing to do with using my laptop.
Here’s how you can do it too:
AB: Look at your time and resources and set aside both to be allocated toward something you want to go and learn.
JD: Create a schedule for yourself and put the hours in your calendar when you are not going to be in front of your computer—or your phone. I delete Instagram off my phone for weeks at a time.
It helps me live my process because:
AB: I have learned that I do deep work in shorter time periods, structured as an intensive. This is an expansive time for me and allows me to apply new findings and approaches in my day-to-day.
JD: Life is happening now, right in front of me. Time spent watching people or taking the bus to a class is always rich, even if it is witnessing an interaction or smiling at someone for 10 seconds.
Take a “Moment” to learn more about Jordan Daly and Ally Bogard’s journey here.