AI Summary
5 min readFrom Doing to Being: Teddy Dean on Presence, Sobriety, and the Power of Stillness
Teddy Dean learned to meditate at 22, but he also walked out of a yoga workshop that same year convinced he hated it — the only man in a room of a dozen women who were all better than him, and the comparison stuck for decades. It took a one-on-one invitation from Teddy himself years later for Chip Conley to finally get over that early wound. That kind of patient, non-judgmental teaching is what Teddy now brings to MEA, where he serves as head of Mind and Body after a life that moved from professional skateboarding to independent filmmaking to a drinking problem that lasted fifteen years, to sobriety, and finally to teaching mindfulness in Baja.
The Skateboarder Who Walked Away
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What you'll learn
- 1 From Doing to Being: The Power of Presence | Teddi Dean
- 2 (00:07) **The Moment It Ended** - Teddi Dean describes the skateboarding injury that made him walk away from his career as a professional skater
- 3 (04:17) **Growing Up in 1970s Huntington Beach** - Teddi's childhood in a free, unsupervised surf-and-skate culture
- 4 (06:55) **Stacy Peralta's Unrelenting Positivity** - The mentor who kept Teddi grounded during the punk-rock nihilism of the era
- 5 (08:05) **The Skatepark Collapse and the Night He Quit** - Why the industry downturn and a single fall ended his career
- 6 (10:28) **From Skateboarding to Drinking** - How community college and film school became the ramp for a 15-year drinking habit
- 7 (13:02) **Getting Sober and Finding the Dharma** - How a 28-day detox and the Bay Area's mindfulness culture converged
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Guests on this episode
Show Notes
Sometimes the most powerful thing we can do is stop doing and simply be present.
In this episode, Chip Conley talks with Teddi Dean, former Bones Brigade skateboarder turned filmmaker, mindfulness teacher, and Head of Mind & Body at MEA.
Teddy shares his journey through sobriety, yoga, meditation, and decades of exploring what it means to live with greater awareness.
You’ll discover:
- Why stillness can be transformative and help us reconnect with ourselves.
- How 10 to 20 minutes of daily mindfulness can change how we respond to life.
- Why mindfulness goes beyond meditation, from walking and surfing to ordinary daily activities.
- How listening to your body and breath can lead to wiser choices.
- Why paying attention makes ordinary life richer and helps us see familiar things with fresh eyes. Teddi’s hard earned wisdom is beautifully simple: Just be.
Watch the full episode for a practical and inspiring conversation about becoming more present for your own life.
Timestamps:
(00:00) Meet Teddi Dean
(01:05) Growing Up in Skate Culture
(03:03) Joining the Bones Brigade
(05:20) Walking Away From Skateboarding
(08:57) Drinking and Life After Skateboarding
(10:04) Getting Sober at 35
(11:00) Finding Yoga and Mindfulness
(14:23) Starting a New Life in Baja
(17:10) Joining the Modern Elder Academy
(19:04) Why Midlife Needs a Wisdom School
(21:35) The Power of Silent Retreats
(26:49) Learning to Sit With Yourself
(28:39) Building a Daily Mindfulness Practice
(30:22) Creating Space Between Stimulus and Response
(32:01) Turning Everyday Activities Into Mindfulness
(35:05) What Is Embodied Prayer?
(36:30) Listening to the Wisdom of the Body
(39:06) Becoming Amazed by the Mundane
(41:18) Wisdom Bumper Sticker
(43:00) Sunday Sangha
Learn more about MEA at https://www.meawisdom.com/
#TeddiDean #ChipConley #ModernElderAcademy #JustBe #PowerOfPresence #MindfulnessInMidlife More from this podcast