John Mackey’s Journey From Ego Death to Building Whole Foods l HTS w/ DrG #403

Heal Thy Self with Dr. G

Wellness Loud

Health & Fitness, Alternative Health

5 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 31 July 2025

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS! Visit jaspr.co/DRG and use code DRG for $300 OFF for a limited time Sign up for our newsletter! https://drchristiangonzalez.com/newsletter/ In this transformative episode, John Mackey shares his journey from a $45,000 vegetarian co-op in Austin to revolutionizing how America thinks about food. His psychedelic awakening showed him "there's only the one being" - a realization that became the foundation for conscious business practices serving customers, employees, suppliers, communities, and the environment equally. We explore the four pillars of conscious capitalism: higher purpose beyond profit, stakeholder philosophy where everyone wins, conscious leadership focused on mission over compensation, and conscious culture where people flourish. John reveals how Whole Foods' self-insurance data exposed the health crisis - 10% of employees consumed 90% of healthcare dollars on preventable chronic diseases. This led to his newest venture: Love.Life, a 45,000 sq ft wellness revolution in Manhattan Beach featuring healthy food, state-of-the-art fitness, biohacking recovery, integrative medicine, and three indoor pickleball courts. It's designed as medicine for loneliness - creating community connections that heal both business and personal relationships. John's core philosophy: "Just love everyone all the time, no exceptions." Life is an eternal adventure with nothing to fear. Choose love moment by moment, practice forgiveness and gratitude, and remember - what we put out into the world reflects back to us. Business can be a force for healing when built on consciousness rather than pure profit. Be sure to like and subscribe to #HealThySelfHosted by Doctor Christian Gonzalez N.D. Follow Doctor G on Instagram @doctor.gonzalezhttps://www.instagram.com/doctor.gonzalez/ Timestamps: 0:00 - Introduction & Rapid Fire Questions 3:28 - Life-Changing Psychedelic Experience & Spiritual Awakening 7:25 - How LSD Knocked Him Off His Traditional Path 12:04 - Starting Whole Foods 21:01 - The Great Flood That Nearly Destroyed Whole Foods 25:51 - The Four Pillars of Conscious Capitalism 36:52 - "Love Is All There Is" 49:11 - The Genesis of Love Life 59:03 - Inside Love Life

Transcript

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0:00.0	The past no longer exists. All that is real is right now. And right now, you can choose love.
0:06.2	So it's having intentionality to love. That is what underscores all reality. So that's why I have to
0:12.2	practice being still and being present, because that is where love is. Look, if you want to build
0:16.4	something meaningful while staying true to your values without sacrificing your soul for success.
0:21.9	This episode is for you.
0:23.0	I'm here with John Mackie, co-founder of Whole Foods Market, who turned a $45,000 investment
0:28.3	into a company that transformed how America thinks about foods.
0:32.4	You see, most entrepreneurs that you have to choose between profit and purpose.
0:35.8	But John reveals how conscious capitalism
0:38.7	creates businesses where everyone wins, customers, employees, suppliers, communities. And today
0:44.5	he's sharing with you the counterculture mindset that birthed Whole Foods and how a life-changing
0:50.2	psychedelic experience knocked them off the traditional path. We go into how his new venture of love life is revolutionizing wellness by bringing everything
0:58.0	under one roof.
0:59.4	Let's dive into this super informative, diverse interview.
1:02.8	All right, John, thank you for coming on The Heal Thyself show.
1:07.1	I have a lot of questions for you, man.
1:09.2	I'm excited to be here, Christian.
1:10.4	Thanks for inviting me. Yeah. And I'm excited to be here, Christian. Thanks for inviting me.
1:11.1	Yeah, and I really want to go into your project Love Life,
1:15.9	something that I have been meaning top of my list to go see.
1:19.0	But before we get into any of that, are you ready for some rapid-fire questions?
1:21.7	Sure, far away.
	...

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