The John Gardner Interview ☕
The John Gardner Interview ☕
The pro skateboarder turned mental health advocate is here to talk mindfulness and "Mother's Love," the song that changed his life
This Song Changed My Life is an independent music publication created by Grace Lilly & supported by readers.
• 6 min read •
Meet John
John Gardner exudes a sense of calm and playfulness that feels contagious.
If you’re into skateboarding, especially on the East Coast, you probably know him for his creative riding style — and his flute playing (which started about a decade ago when his mother gifted him one).
Whether he’s hitting a street spot or tearing up an empty swimming pool, it’s always fun to watch.
He’s still skateboarding, but he’s recently taken a step back from doing it professionally.
Now, he’s concentrating on Nothing But Today, an organization he founded to share techniques on regulating everyday stress, anxiety, and depression while raising awareness about the worldwide growing suicide epidemic.
In his own words, “I'm essentially a human being who's trying to do some good with the tools that I've been given.”
“I've experienced my own healing, my own grief, my own loss, and I like to think that maybe there's something of value in that experience that I can share with someone else, that could also give them value.”
Nothing But Today
Using tools like meditation and breath work, Gardner’s hope is to help bring us back to the only place we can be — the here and now — one day at a time.
“I always preface by saying that I'm not a therapist or a doctor, and so I only teach what I know, what's been helpful to me through my experience, and I do that in hopes that it will be of benefit to somebody.”
Right now, Nothing But Today offers mental health training and presentations to “just about anyone, in person or virtually.” They’re also designing custom mental health courses for K-12 schools, colleges, and corporations.
“It's been a really rewarding process, and we're hoping to expand and just share more with a broader community.”
Hearing him talk about this work, I had to thank him.
When I first stumbled across John online a few years back, I saw him modeling a mindset that, soon after, helped me move through the hospitalization and death of a dear family member more mindfully than I ever thought possible.
His response, “I'm very happy that anything that I've shared on the world wide web has been helpful to you, but I can't take credit for any of these teachings. I mean they are teachings that are ancient.”
“Really, mindfulness is a very ancient practice, and I think the human beings of today, though we are very technologically advanced, could benefit greatly from ancient teachings. And so I just hope to be a steward, or shepherd for those teachings.”
What song changed his life?
Without hesitation, “The song is called ‘Mother's Love,’ and it's by an Ethiopian nun named Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou.”
He notes that The Vernon Spring did a remake, but hers is the original.
It’s a gorgeous instrumental, written in 1963.
It’s not a song that Gardner listened to growing up, and it’s not directly associated with any childhood memories.
“I can't remember how I came across it. I think Spotify, to be honest. And, yeah, I just heard it and it transported me.”
That wasn’t the moment it changed his life though.
“The moment that it changed my life was when I had it on repeat during a guided psychedelic-assisted therapy session.”
The song played continuously throughout the session at his request. And while it wasn’t a premeditated choice, he’s glad it worked out that way.
“It gave me a very clear visual. It also gave me a very strong physical sensation about memories of being a child with my mom and my dad and my sister. And those memories were just very soft and gentle, and painted this very clear, vivid picture and feeling of the love that my mom and my dad gave to me and my sister.”
What did he see and feel?
“I could very clearly see myself running into my dad’s arms with my sister, and what that felt like. I could see from a bird's eye view my mom’s gentleness with us, and all the things they both did to make a good life for us.”
“Any resentments I had once carried seemed to fade away in the presence of these feelings. I felt that love so strongly.”
Even now, he says, “I have that feeling imprinted in me,” and it’s emotional to think about.
“I know the feeling and the experience was heightened due to the psychedelic therapy session, but the song, I think, was just as important to imprinting that memory and that feeling.”
Gardner posits that a song’s ability to take us to these places “has a lot to do with the person who’s the conduit of the music.”
“You know, I know very little about this artist, but what I do know is that the song is about her mother, and it seems like she's dedicated her life to service in some way, shape, or form,” he continues.
“I think the person who's making the music often imprints their intention on it, and that can be felt by listening.”
If you read this publication regularly, you’re probably a fairly sentimental person; and whether you’re a psychedelic explorer or not, surely you can relate to this experience.
A stimulus — a song — can awaken our memories, our senses, our souls.
It’s kind of the whole thing around here.
“It's the power of music,” says Gardner.
On that note
It’s worth mentioning that John is a musician as well, and he has some music of his own available for free on Bandcamp.
I encourage you to check it out.
It’s an album he made to accompany the first zine in his Deep Rest series at Nothing But Today. It features original music as well as a wonderful guided meditation — and he hopes to make more.
Thank you, John. ◆
Stay Connected
John Gardner is currently based in Asheville, North Carolina. Wherever you are, keep an eye out for his events and workshops.
Learn more about his work at Nothing But Today
Instagram @jawngardner and @nothing.but.today
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