“Believe what you want to achieve.” – Raj Bhavsar

Raj Bhavsar (@Rajnastics) is Olympic Athlete, world-class gymnast, entrepreneur, and artist. His accolades are simply outstanding: Bronze medal in 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, World championship silver medals, 3 world cup medals, 3 U.S. national titles, 3 NC Double A national titles, 11 years on the senior national team, and the creation of 2 new gymnastics skills, now called “The Bhavsar” on rings and parallel bars.

In 2004, Raj missed competing in Athens and was named alternate to the team, after which he turned to yoga, philosophy, and personal transformation to garner an Olympic birth four years later in Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Despite being underdogs, Raj and his teammates brought home a bronze medal, and the story became a sentimental favorite of the Beijing games.

After retiring from gymnastics in 2009, Raj performed with Cirque du Soleil show “IRIS” as an acrobat and artist . He currently lives in Los Angeles, CA, and is the head coach at top ranked GymJam in Santa Clarita. He enjoys hiking and biking new trails, intense soccer games, the arts, and good laughs.

We cover some amazing stories like what it was like to actually be at the Olympics (watch his video!) as well as the mental toughness to be a top-notch athlete and gymnast.

In this conversation, we discuss:

Raj’s identity as a gymnast and how that evolved over time

The amazing story on how Raj came back from being selected as alternate in 2004 Olympic Games through yoga, philosophy, and personal transformation

The extraordinary feeling and atmosphere of being at the 2008 Beijing Olympic games

The importance of affirmations and dealing with adversity

Much, much more…

This episode is brought to you in partnership with The Aerogram (Read The Aerogram’s post on Raj Bhavsar!). The Aerogram is a curated take on South Asian art, literature, life and news.

You’re going to love this one. Please enjoy!

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