Lucid State founder Andrew Daye shares his journey from childhood trauma to Breathwork and Mental Performance Coach.
“Your brain constructs reality based on your state, and your breath is the instrument that orchestrates your state.” – Andrew Daye
Andrew Daye is a man who has overcome the odds. He grew up in Ajax, Ontario in a trauma-filled, low income environment where his single mother worked three jobs to make ends meet. It’s in that environment that the former “unlucky kid” says he was hardwired for survival and seeking validation and self-worth.
This trauma would affect his health as well. As a child. he faced a number of health challenges, including asthma, migraines, sleepless nights, and even a life threatening bone infection.
“Success came with a cost. My body broke down, my focus and passion for life faded, I woke up anxious, had depressive periods, and struggled to stay asleep. I hadn’t escaped survival mode. I had only learned how to monetize it.”
Daye turned his pain into overachieving in his early 20s and a way of escape. He became one of the top sales reps at a fintech company and built a six-figure advertising agency, working with multi-million dollar brands. But soon, everything would come crashing down.
“Success came with a cost. My body broke down, my focus and passion for life faded, I woke up anxious, had depressive periods, and struggled to stay asleep”, he explained. “I hadn’t escaped survival mode. I had only learned how to monetize it.”
But it was these challenges that would lead him to his life’s work.
“I was trying to find a bunch of different health and wellness modalities to help with that”, he told SHIFTER. “Breath work was one I identified that was very helpful and practical. You don’t have to be anywhere. You can do it wherever you go.”
He added:
“The real shift wasn’t physical or professional. It was identity. I wasn’t trying to escape survival mode anymore. I was learning how to operate beyond it. This became the birth of a deeper passion.”s became the birth of a deeper passion.
“The real shift wasn’t physical or professional. It was identity. I wasn’t trying to escape survival mode anymore. I was learning how to operate beyond it.”
Soon after, he found that breath work was a great way to sustain high levels of performance, including athletic performance; this coming from an asthmatic athlete who couldn’t run more than two kilometers. With the help of breath work, he became a half marathoner in less than a year, finishing in the top 20% of the Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon. Marathon
He went on to take all these practices and started doing workshops with family and friends. From there, there was a lot of value and demand. He expanded his workshops to athletes, entrepreneurs, and high performers, electing to take more of a science and performance based approach, than the conventional wellness and holistic approach. After getting into corporate workshops and public speaking, he decided to turn it into a business and LucidState was born.
His goal? To show people how to use breath work to improve their mind and brain performance, and physiology. He offers a free breath tool kit to help people on their journey.
Daye is now a mental fitness coach and award-winning speaker, sharing his story of how breath and mind training, including visualization, rewired his life. The now Toronto-based coach has come a long way with his work reaching top performing Olympians, Fortune 500 companies, medical students, and creative leaders worldwide.
But he is far from satisfied. He recently launched a breath work certification to help get this tool to as many people as possible.
“Your brain constructs reality based on your state, and your breath is the instrument that orchestrates your state.”
Kevin Bourne is SHIFTER’s editor-in-chief and Senior Arts & Entertainment Reporter focusing on film & TV, music, and fashion. He was named one of 340 international voters for the Golden Globe Awards and a Tomatometer-Approved Critic by Rotten Tomatoes.
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