Breath + Body + Mind - Harnessing Ancient Wisdom for Modern Wellbeing
Have you ever considered the power of mindful movement to transform your life? In this enlightening episode of The Mindful Coach Podcast, I sit down with Rob Owen, a former school principal turned movement specialist, to explore the profound impact of integrating breath, movement, and focus.
Rob's journey into mindful movement began after a life-altering car accident at 17. This experience led him to discover the healing potential of Tai Chi and Qigong, practices that have since become central to his personal and professional life.
The Mind-Body Connection
- How mindful movement can help manage stress and burnout
- The importance of slowing down to gain clarity and focus
- Techniques for integrating breath, movement, and intention
Practical Applications in Education
As an educator, Rob has successfully implemented mindful movement practices in classrooms, helping students with ADHD and anxiety find calm and focus. He discusses:
- The benefits of short, daily mindfulness practices for students
- How teachers can use these techniques for classroom management
- The potential for mindful movement to reduce burnout in education
Simple Techniques for Everyday Life
Rob demonstrates a simple yet powerful exercise that anyone can do to start experiencing the benefits of mindful movement:
- Coordinating breath with gentle arm movements
- Focusing attention on specific body parts or sensations
- Practicing for just a few minutes each day
Beyond the Classroom
While Rob's work focuses on education, the principles he shares can benefit anyone looking to:
- Reduce stress and anxiety
- Improve focus and productivity
- Cultivate a greater sense of presence in daily life
Whether you're an educator, a professional dealing with high-stress situations, or simply someone looking to bring more mindfulness into your life, this episode offers practical insights and techniques to help you harness the power of mindful movement.
Join us as we explore how integrating breath, movement, and focus can lead to a more balanced, centered, and fulfilling life.
Takeaways:
- The integration of mindful movement into daily practice enhances overall well-being and emotional balance.
- Mindful practices such as Tai Chi and Qigong can significantly alleviate stress and anxiety in educational settings.
- Teachers who engage in mindfulness techniques demonstrate improved presence and effectiveness in their classrooms.
- Establishing a consistent mindful movement practice can foster resilience and creativity in students with neurodivergent challenges.
- A profound connection exists between breath, movement, and focused attention, which cultivates a more centered experience.
- Mindfulness training contributes to developing emotional regulation and reduces impulsivity in children with ADHD.
Links referenced in this episode:
Transcript
Foreign hello and welcome to this edition of the Mindful Coach podcast.
Speaker A:I'm your host, Brett Hill.
Speaker A:Today I am talking about one of my favorite topics in the whole world, which is about movement and mindful movement.
Speaker A:In specifically I'm a, you know, I've got a background in somatic work and so connection to the body is just a really important part of learning how to show up and be present in the world and learning to integrate your whole self into the experience of being a person on the planet.
Speaker A:And I have with me Rob Owen, who's been a for 20 years, has been a school principal, educator, author and coach.
Speaker A:And he's really been having a deep impact with stress and burnout, helping teachers in, you know, in the school systems.
Speaker A:After a life changing car accident at 17, he started to work with Tai chi and qigong.
Speaker A:Those are such powerful practices and they have become central to both his professional and personal life.
Speaker A:And now he shares all of these learned through Move to Focus Move 2 Focus.
Speaker A:Helping educators and students, especially those with ADHD and anxiety, find calm focus, emotional balance in the classroom and beyond.
Speaker A:So welcome to the show, Rob.
Speaker A:I'm happy to have you here.
Speaker B:Thanks for having me.
Speaker B:Brett was a really nice conversation we had before we pushed record.
Speaker B:So it's really great to be here.
Speaker B:Yeah, it was fun.
Speaker B:So really great to be here.
Speaker B:Thanks for having me.
Speaker A:Yeah, we, we were having some technical challenges and it's kind of like oh my God.
Speaker A:And then I'm noticing how stressed out I am and I have to like calm down and get present.
Speaker A:I'm so fascinated to talk to you about your work, you know, with the movement.
Speaker A:And so you, you talked about in your lead in here like you had this life changing experience.
Speaker A:Tell us about how you got tuned into the power of mindful movement.
Speaker B:Well, the power of mind.
Speaker B:So I would say it began in the world of martial arts training in the Chinese martial arts, in particular in the Shaolin and the Wing Chun and eventually in the Tai Chi and the qigong.
Speaker A:So you studied Shaolin?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So Shaolin gong fu is of the oldest martial arts and Shaolin is about developing the whole being.
Speaker B:We do learn self defense, weaponry, all of the above.
Speaker B:But a large part of the practice isn't just about the martial part, but it's about the art, the art of being alive, the art of being human and the development of the character through breath, through hard work, through mindful practice, through moving mindfulness, the development of the character.
Speaker A:You talk about the character like it's an object that you develop you know, it's like, interesting.
Speaker A:And, you know, we're shaping it through breath.
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker A:That's a powerful thought.
Speaker A:Like, oh, I can shape my character with my breath.
Speaker B:Right, right.
Speaker A:So what have you learned about that?
Speaker A:Like, let's talk a little bit about breath, because that's a powerful thing that I use in.
Speaker A:It's like one of, like 10 things that I teach a little bit is like, the power of breath.
Speaker A:But I really like to hear it.
Speaker A:I've had some intersection with martial arts, but nothing is deep dive as you've had.
Speaker A:So how did you learn about that?
Speaker B:Well, I think of it as like this.
Speaker B:It's like.
Speaker B:Well, it's like move to focus.
Speaker B:It's breath, move, focus, right?
Speaker B:So whenever we're moving around in the world, whether we're in a meditative state or not, we're doing all three of those, right?
Speaker B:So in my practice, in the practice I like to teach, it begins with something.
Speaker B:Well, we already have.
Speaker B:We have breath, move and focus.
Speaker B:It's about bringing those all together, right?
Speaker B:So when we breathe and we breathe at the same rate that we move our body and then we focus on a part of our body, that's the.
Speaker B:That's the goal in the practice.
Speaker B:The mindful goal is to link up the breath, the movement, and the practice together.
Speaker B:Obviously, I started doing it in the martial world.
Speaker B:So when you're doing forms or you're doing movement, your breath needs to always be in your belly.
Speaker B:It needs in your dan Tien, about 3 inches below your belly button.
Speaker B:And the reason why is so your qi isn't up high.
Speaker B:So we know.
Speaker B:We know when our energy, when we get a big cortisol boost or a big burst of fear or anxiety, we find that our shoulders tense up, we find that there's tightness in our chest.
Speaker B:All of the thoughts in our head start to go and go and go.
Speaker B:And so we're taught fundamentally to drop the breath into the belly.
Speaker B:What that does is that.
Speaker B:That keeps it so the external stimuli doesn't necessarily affect your autonomic nervous system in such a deep way.
Speaker B:So, for example, if you walk into a busy subway and you're a sensitive person, right, you may feel your shoulders go up and you're looking around really fast, right?
Speaker B:So a simple practice would be like, hey, drop your breath in your belly and slow down a little bit.
Speaker B:And as you slow down a little bit, the amount of energy that you had in your upper body that's causing the emotional rise is dropped down.
Speaker B:And then when you're calm focus will come afterward because, you know, if you're a little sporadic, the focus seems to go away or become all over the place.
Speaker B:Kind of like a beehive.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I mean, this speaks to, I think a very common sort of phrase that you hear in our language is something like, well, they're really in their head and.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:And so, you know, for people who may have some kind of a challenge with like, well, how do you locate your attention here or there or your energy.
Speaker A:But if you think of it, that's a pretty common phrase that I think people can relate to.
Speaker A:All.
Speaker A:They're all in their head, they're thinking, meaning they're not where else.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:What's missing?
Speaker A:And so I think what you're.
Speaker A:You're asking or inviting is to participate in the decision about where your focus is so that you can have a different experience.
Speaker A:And then combining that with movement.
Speaker A:My gosh, I just love that so much.
Speaker B:Right, right, agreed.
Speaker B:So the way to embody mindfulness and movement in comparison to just being in your head, you know, you hear that term being in your head and, you know, do you just think of the beehive mind or the sporadic person just freaking out, you know, or they're being maybe overly emotional or maybe they have too many thoughts and the reason why is because they're not in their body.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And so.
Speaker B:So the goal is.
Speaker A:You mean, when you say body.
Speaker A:I mean the head's part of the body, but you mean like the below down.
Speaker A:Yeah, the trunk.
Speaker B:They're not in the core of their body.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:So all the energy is up here.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:But if you're able, through focus and breath, to bring our energy down through other parts of our body, we begin to embody the practice of mindfulness.
Speaker B:And we move at a rate maybe a little bit slower in the world, maybe perceived slower.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Compared to our current American frantic society frantic state, maybe we're moving a little bit closer to what nature intended.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:And to do that is to be embodied in a way where you're very well aware of what's happening in your body.
Speaker B:Like your work, a lot of somatic work, or for example, being aware of the bottom of your feet.
Speaker B:Simple practices.
Speaker B:You know, you're standing, you can put your breath and your belly and breathe from your belly.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:That's going to drop the energy down to a sense of calm and relax you, just to begin.
Speaker B:But you can also put your intent at the bottom of your feet.
Speaker B:You know, there's the classic Thich Nhat Hanh Zen master Who recently just left us, but left us with hundreds of books about mindfulness and Zen.
Speaker B:And I was lucky enough to train with him in person.
Speaker B:And I remember being at the monastery and walking up the mountain with him and it was such a slow walk.
Speaker B:And he would just say, you know, intent at the bottom of your feet.
Speaker B:Just be aware of the bottom of your feet as you heel to toe, heel to toe, and let your body go from there.
Speaker B:And so, yeah, yeah, let it do the work.
Speaker B:So the grounding practice, one can be through breath in your belly with the focus, breath in your bell.
Speaker B:The other one can have your intent at the bottom of your feet and simply slowing down.
Speaker B:And that'll help you embody this sense of mindfulness.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's powerful to, you know, when, in my experience, it's like, I have a lot going on, as we all do in this world, because we're all too busy by design.
Speaker A:I think the world is designed to keep us out of our bodies and in our heads so that we can do more and, you know, get more done and accomplish more and be more.
Speaker A:It's like the whole drive to achieve something that you don't have, because if you were happy with you, what you had, you wouldn't work so hard and, you know, you would drive towards a future that is here because there's only always now.
Speaker B:Anyway, I'm pontificating a little bit right next to you.
Speaker B:Right next to.
Speaker A:But what I was going to say is like, it seems to me that in my experience of that, it's a very interesting experience because neurologically, when I.
Speaker A:I find I'm in my.
Speaker A:All my thoughts, I've got to do this.
Speaker A:I've got to do this, and I take a breath, I do my own version of what you're talking about.
Speaker A:Then that.
Speaker A:It's like the static kind of begins to dissipate.
Speaker A:And I find then that I can actually approach the things that I wanted to think about more clearly.
Speaker A:I can take more effective action.
Speaker A:That's an interesting phenomena.
Speaker A:So it's like, slow down and be more effective.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:It's kind of paradoxical, but I think it makes sense, you know.
Speaker B:You know, to slow down and be more aware of what's really going on.
Speaker B:And then.
Speaker B:And then the mind can think a little bit more clear when we slow down and we're not keeping up with, you know, the next task, which I'm definitely guilty of, but I think it simply needs to be a balance of.
Speaker B:Of being and becoming.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So mindfulness is a.
Speaker B:Is a practice of learning to be.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:We.
Speaker B:We attune earth.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Learning to be in.
Speaker B:In that sense of beingness.
Speaker B:And then the Zen takes it a little bit further where it's like, okay, we have this sense of beingness that we're sensing.
Speaker B:And Zen kind of takes it from, you know, you have the mindfulness, which is the emphasis on being aware of the sensations of the body, aware of your thoughts, awareness, aware of your emotions.
Speaker B:Zen takes it a little further where, okay, we're aware of those and we're watching those go by, but let's become more aware of the ground of being in that which is perceiving that phenomena and moving beyond the thoughts into what we call a non.
Speaker B:Dual nature.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Well, now we're getting out there.
Speaker A:It's like we're in there, as the case may be.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Rain there.
Speaker A:I totally feel that I don't talk about that too much because it feels like a bridge too far for a lot of people.
Speaker A:Because what happens as we begin to talk about this state is that language begins to fail us.
Speaker A:The words are just tools to illustrate something to a cognitive system.
Speaker A:And without a somatic experience of that, it's just an idea.
Speaker A:And so it's difficult to explore meaningfully through conversation.
Speaker B:Agreed, Agreed.
Speaker A:And that's why I think we seek out teachers who speak from this place.
Speaker A:Because what happens in my experience is a transmission occurs that is beyond the words.
Speaker A:It's the space that holds the words.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And you have to have something in you that's like.
Speaker A:I'm kind of getting a vibe here.
Speaker A:What is that?
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:There's like some deep water here.
Speaker A:I'm really.
Speaker A:And the mind goes.
Speaker A:I'm curiously attracted to that.
Speaker A:That if that's what happens to you, then you're in luck.
Speaker A:Because that's what I call hearing the call.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:You're right.
Speaker A:You know, anyway, I'm kind of lit about this topic today.
Speaker A:I can tell.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I loved what you said about being aware of what's beyond the words.
Speaker B:Because, you know, words just being signs.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:They're not the actual phenomenological experience of what's happening.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I sometimes say it's like a picture of the Grand Canyon.
Speaker A:Isn't the Grand Canyon, right?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:It's just like that.
Speaker A:So in your intro, you said you had this crystallizing experience of some kind when you were in a car wreck.
Speaker A:You want to tell us what happened there?
Speaker B:Oh, sure.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:It was a slow crystallization.
Speaker B:Um, it wasn't the sudden enlightenment.
Speaker B:I Think it was more of that, you know, and it's still growing.
Speaker B:But it did become, you know, it's a classic Campbellian story around Campbell.
Speaker A:You meaning like Campbell?
Speaker B:Yeah, Joseph Campbell.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:And the hero's journey.
Speaker B:So, you know, I went through, you know, a near death experience at 17 in a car accident.
Speaker B:And a few years later a couple symptoms started coming on.
Speaker B:You know, my back would lock up, my neck would lock up, I had 200 stitches in my face, I hit a park.
Speaker A:200 stitches.
Speaker B:200, yeah.
Speaker A:You know.
Speaker A:APPLAUSE to whoever did the work because.
Speaker B:Yeah, I still remember his name, Dr.
Speaker B:Yenny.
Speaker B:He was one of the, the best plastic surgeons in the country.
Speaker B:Just happened to be at the hospital.
Speaker A:Oh, wow, what a gift.
Speaker B:Yeah, it was just.
Speaker B:And yeah, so it was quite the experience.
Speaker B:And after the next couple years, my body started to react so my neck would lock up, my back would lock up.
Speaker B:And then after that, then there were psychological kind of trauma based things that would come up.
Speaker B:So, you know, emotional, lots of emotional issues.
Speaker B:Psychological issues.
Speaker B:And I didn't know what was going on.
Speaker B:I mean, I was still picking glass out of my eye, my eyelid on my forehead.
Speaker B:A year and a half later it would just, pieces would come out, right.
Speaker B:And so it was two or three years later where I was like, you know, what's happening to me?
Speaker B:So I went, you know, basically took the call and began the healing path.
Speaker B:And I'd already been training in martial arts a little bit.
Speaker B:Filipino escrima, which is a wonderful stick based art, stick and knife based weaponry arts, a wonderful art from the Philippines.
Speaker B:And, and I had already been studying lots of Taoism and philosophical texts and Buddhism and I was a big fan of Bruce Lee as well.
Speaker B:And so it seemed come together, right, and I'll come together with them.
Speaker B:I went to a chiropractor, started seeing a chiropractor and went through a couple of them, went through acupuncture.
Speaker B:And then one day I found this, what we call guan, that's another word for a dojo.
Speaker B:And I left a little note, you know, it was like, sifu, teach me kind of note, I'm ready here, I'm here to learn.
Speaker B:You know, it's like an old story and yeah, it is, right.
Speaker A:He comes out, says, I've been waiting for you.
Speaker B:Yeah, he's traditional.
Speaker B:And so he, you know, he interviewed me and I told him what was up and he's like, would love to work with you.
Speaker B:So that practice is about developing non linear musculature all over the body.
Speaker B:We call it chonse jin which is reeling silk energy.
Speaker B:And it's about spiral.
Speaker B:So all of the movements that we do in the Tai chi, the qigong.
Speaker B:Yeah, there's always a spiral going on because one on a more cosmological standpoint, it's echoing the universe.
Speaker B:Right, Echoing the universe, echoing the seeds and the soil, all of the above.
Speaker B:But when it becomes embodied, it's about learning that the body shouldn't just be, you know, on these little degrees, but it's a three dimensional experience.
Speaker B:So a lot of the training is three dimensional in the way of how it develops your body.
Speaker B:So my back and my core started to become much more developed after years and my neck.
Speaker B:So I had to rebuild all of my musculature and obviously the mind work.
Speaker B:All of the Chan Buddhism, which is basically Zen, the core of Zen in the Buddhism, in the Daoism.
Speaker B:Sorry.
Speaker B:That coupled with my training really started to change me.
Speaker B:Ten years later teaching it and I was a classroom teacher and so I started to bring in these mindfulness based practices before they were a thing we're talking, I started teaching and I'm going to date myself.
Speaker B:And here we go.
Speaker B: In: Speaker B:Oh, recently, just recently, before computers.
Speaker B:I was still using a chalkboard at the time.
Speaker B:But I would bring in these practices of sitting basics and mindfulness based practices.
Speaker B:Sitting practice way back when.
Speaker B:Because I'd be working with these kids that were not neurotypical, they were more neurodiverse.
Speaker B:And the parents would see the difference in the kids behavior.
Speaker B:And I did it for classroom management.
Speaker B:Every day they would.
Speaker A:Right, it's just kind of get these kids under control.
Speaker B:Yeah, but they would know, they would line up, slap me five, come sit down.
Speaker B:And then we would start with 15 seconds and we would just focus on our breath.
Speaker A:So what did you do?
Speaker A:Like literally what did you do with them?
Speaker B:Yeah, legit.
Speaker B:They would walk in 15 seconds.
Speaker B:We'd start the school year thinking of a fifth, sixth grade class.
Speaker B:And then the youngers wanted to do it too.
Speaker B:I was teaching reading at the time and humanities I think as well.
Speaker B:And we would start with, guys, can you sit quietly for 15 seconds?
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:And then I would add something.
Speaker B:Okay, I want you just to focus on your breath.
Speaker B:And then I would slowly fix their posture.
Speaker B:And then it would be like, okay, today we're going for 20, 30, 40, then we get up to the minute, two minutes.
Speaker B:So by the time we were hitting, you know, November, December, when all the teachers are starting to go crazy with all the testing and the assessments and yeah, the kids are already half whacked from all the Halloween food.
Speaker B:We needed more and more practices.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And so we would move up to 2, 2 minutes at a time, would sit quietly, and I would see way.
Speaker A:Better than most adults can do.
Speaker B:No, and it really was.
Speaker B:And the teachers and the parents would come in and say, what are you doing?
Speaker B:What do you do?
Speaker B:With my kids?
Speaker B:I can't believe they're able to do this.
Speaker B:And so for some kids, so the.
Speaker A:Other parents and teachers, they were noticing.
Speaker B:Differences, noticing difference, to the point where they had me come into the beginning of the PTA meetings, say, hey, Rob, Rob, can you open up the PTA meetings?
Speaker A:Can you help us out, man?
Speaker A:Because we're, we need.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's stressful here, Rob, can you help me out?
Speaker B:So I was doing that.
Speaker B:So I would just do some mindfulness practice, practiced some, some Tai Chi or mostly qigong and mindfulness practice to open the PTA meetings.
Speaker B:And I started doing that.
Speaker B:And then five, 10 years later, I, I really started to create a, an actual entity called Move to Focus.
Speaker B:But I've been doing it for years and, and now I'm just kind of making, you know, kind of packaging and offering it to other, other teachers and educators.
Speaker A:Well, that's amazing.
Speaker A:So how do you, I mean, what happens when someone shows up, goes, rob, I'm so stressed out, I don't know what I'm gonna do.
Speaker A:I'm freaking out.
Speaker A:Can you help me?
Speaker A:I mean, where do you start?
Speaker B:Yeah, I think it depends on who it is, you know, honestly.
Speaker B:Sure.
Speaker B:Or if they have a background in any kind of meditative art.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:So it's customized.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:To who you are for sure.
Speaker B:So you don't, you don't teach the way.
Speaker B:So the way that I teach a Tai Chi class to adults is so much different the way when I've opened up a fitness and wellness class for third graders.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So it is, it is a completely different.
Speaker A:Well, thank goodness I'm relaxing to hear that.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:And working with educators, you know, I love it.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Because they see how once they have a practice to center themselves in the morning, three to five to seven minute practice in the morning, they can come into their classroom and they can be more centered and be more present with their students, and then they can begin to offer these exercises to, to their students.
Speaker A:So you have sort of not, I want to use the word templated, but you have examples and of how they can actually bring this into their own courses in their own classrooms.
Speaker B:Right, right.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:So the goal first is to take care of them.
Speaker B:To take care of the teachers.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:Right, right.
Speaker B:To offer them something more than coffee and donuts.
Speaker B:Something a little more internal.
Speaker A:What?
Speaker B:Yeah, there's.
Speaker B:There's Matt, you know, not much more.
Speaker B:But there's pizza, you know.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah, you know, there's pizza.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So just to offer them a practice is so key, and it feels good to offer it, to give it back.
Speaker A:Well, that's amazing.
Speaker A:So this is happening, and so now you've got move to focus.
Speaker A:Is that in addition to the work that you're doing, is that available to, like, anyone, or they have to be at the school that you're in?
Speaker B:No, that's available to anyone.
Speaker B:Movetofocus.com you can find me there.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:I currently teach it at the school.
Speaker B:So I work part time at a school that we emphasize in neurodivergent students, and I just love it.
Speaker B:And I'm balancing that barely with move to focus.
Speaker B:Really enjoying the journey there.
Speaker B:So I usually teach online to others.
Speaker B:I'm in the.
Speaker B:I'm in California, but I'm, you know, more than happy to drive and teach.
Speaker A:So how does that work?
Speaker A:Doing movement online?
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:So it's not too tough.
Speaker B:I've done a fair amount of classes online with my current teacher, Dang Meng Dao, via Zoom.
Speaker B:And you just gotta have a nice space and pretty decent camera and microphone, and you just kind of do what you're gonna do that you're.
Speaker B:What you're gonna do in person, you know, so good.
Speaker A:And so, like, it's particularly like, help.
Speaker A:Help me understand a little bit about the ADHD and the neurodivergent parts of this.
Speaker A:Like, is this suitable for that?
Speaker A:Because, you know, is it like, with mindfulness, the traditional mindfulness practices which involve meditation, there's this.
Speaker A:There's this subcurrent which is like.
Speaker A:Well, that doesn't really work for people who are, like, really neurodivergent in some ways.
Speaker A:They start to do that and they get really emotionally frustrated or they can't maintain.
Speaker A:And so, I mean, is this an alternative?
Speaker A:I mean, how does that work?
Speaker B:Yeah, big question.
Speaker B:So I've had lots of conversations, even with other.
Speaker B:In other podcasts around ADHD and mindfulness and ADHD and qigong and tai chi.
Speaker B:I like to think about the innate quality of mindfulness, mindful movement in particular, in that it's about becoming less reactive and becoming less impulsive.
Speaker B:And so the practice, fundamentally the nature of mindfulness, when you practice for a month Year, decade, whatever it is, is you're going to find there's a space that you've created between the phenomena and your ability to react to it.
Speaker B:You have a choice.
Speaker B:The less, let's say there's a practice, a practitioner who maybe just began and they're just seeking it, maybe they're going to be more impulsive.
Speaker B:The stimuli that they get via their senses, they're going to hop right on that immediately.
Speaker B:Maybe after a few months or years of practicing mindfulness, there's a space between the perceiver and the, and the, and the phenomena that's happening.
Speaker B:That space is mindfulness.
Speaker B:So then you have a choice.
Speaker B:Do I want to.
Speaker B:Do I want to jump at that and be more impulsive?
Speaker B:Or now I have like a quarter second to slow down.
Speaker B:And recenter where I am, that comes through years of practice of mindfulness.
Speaker B:So there's lots, lots of studies around the benefits of mindfulness for children, in particular with ADHD or impulsive, impulsive behavior, hyperactive adhd, but also inattentive adhd.
Speaker B:There's one that is, I think it was the International International Journal of psychology is like 38%, 37% change in the kid's anxiety just from the practice of mindfulness.
Speaker B:There's a lot.
Speaker A:Is this the traditional, like, you know, mindful meditation?
Speaker A:Mindfulness?
Speaker B:Yeah, that.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So what'll happen in some of the studies is they'll mix the research in mindfulness with the qigong and the tai chi, or they'll mix some of the research with mindful movement with those.
Speaker B:And then there are also a lot more studies that link the mindfulness and yoga.
Speaker B:Yoga has a pretty large presence in the school system right now.
Speaker B:So there's a lot of research around that.
Speaker B:But if you look around, it's slowly just starting to rise.
Speaker B:And people are saying, well, there are.
Speaker B:Even though it's not going to cure ADHD or anything like that, cure whatever that's supposed to mean, but it will give you, right, It'll give you tools to relax and to work on your impulsivity and help you.
Speaker B:Well, maybe if you don't want to move to the medication, right, which a lot of people take for the ada.
Speaker B:You can start looking at the foods you eat.
Speaker B:You can start looking at the intake of, you know, Internet, TikTok, YouTube, all that.
Speaker B:And you can also look at your breath and your movement and how if you can learn to slow things down, it will decrease impulsivity.
Speaker A:I recently, you know, as an older guy, it's like they didn't have adhd.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:In framework, when I was a kid, you know, I would have been probably tagged as one of those characters.
Speaker B:Me too.
Speaker A:Not.
Speaker A:And I don't like, I'm not crazy.
Speaker A:You know, in terms of like a scale of one to ten, I'm probably like a six and a half or so.
Speaker A:I'm not like my life is unmanageable.
Speaker A:But you know, my office is a little bit chaotic and so is my workflow.
Speaker A:And I noticed that my problem is like with a lot of HD ADHD folk, it's follow through because I have, I have iPhone.
Speaker A:I call shiny object syndrome.
Speaker B:Yes, the shiny object syndrome.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's kind of like, oh, oh, oh, that.
Speaker A:Oh my God.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And you.
Speaker A:And the thing I love about that is that there's this limbic system empowerment is truly fascinated, enlivened and activated by some concept, some gadget, some technology.
Speaker A:I'm a technologist, I love technology.
Speaker A:And it's kind of like, oh, that is so cool.
Speaker A:And I just really get into it and I feel good about doing that.
Speaker A:And then the other, then I'm in the middle of it and it's like, look, that's even so cool too.
Speaker A:And pretty soon my world is just what is the shiniest object in my field of awareness.
Speaker A:And that's where my attention automatically goes.
Speaker A:And I've discovered that with mindfulness, I can have a moment where I realize I'm just being pulled around by the bright lights in the room.
Speaker A:I'm not really making a decision about what I should be doing.
Speaker A:That was a really powerful awareness for me and it really was a big deal.
Speaker A:And that's when I realized I have adhd, you know, because I'm just, I'm not really focusing.
Speaker A:I'm not a planner.
Speaker A:You know, my wife, she's just the opposite.
Speaker A:She's like, okay, we're going to the store.
Speaker A:We're going to turn left at this intersection.
Speaker A:We're going to turn right over here.
Speaker A:She's got a map.
Speaker A:And you're gonna, we're gonna do the map, you know, and it's like.
Speaker A:And I'm like, store, let's go.
Speaker A:And I don't, you know, oh, I got a flat tire.
Speaker A:Shoot.
Speaker B:Right, right.
Speaker A:So we have to work all that out.
Speaker A:But I didn't really realize until I had that awareness that I was just being pulled around by the shiny objects in the room that that was a problem.
Speaker A:So I find that the idea of going into your body is where I go whenever I want to notice that that's happening for me.
Speaker A:So it was kind of a long winded way for me to say yay.
Speaker B:Yay.
Speaker B:Exactly.
Speaker B:Yay is the answer.
Speaker A:So, you know, what do you say to people who don't really have a great relationship to their body in movement, but they're interested in this, Maybe they've had some experience because most people have had a moment where they felt, I'm going to use a big word, equanimity or calm, peace.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And there's an associated body sensation of virtual relaxation and there's a presence, but it's not something that people can just invoke often.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:And what I hear you talking about is like, learn to be, learn to use your breath, be focused, invoke this connectivity.
Speaker A:And I, that's just such a powerful idea.
Speaker A:But you, what do you say to people who are like, I don't, I don't even know where to begin.
Speaker A:How do you, how do you start someone out to learn to develop a relationship with that part of themselves?
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So I would start with breath because we all breathe, right.
Speaker B:So I would just start with the awareness of breath.
Speaker B:I would gently mention something like, let's begin by slowing down, because that's.
Speaker B:Anyone, anyone knows what that means?
Speaker B:Okay, well, how do I do that?
Speaker B:So this practice is about slowing down from the outside in.
Speaker B:So we slow the body movement to slow the mind.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So if you're just talking to yourself, internal dialogue, and you're saying, okay, mind, slow down.
Speaker B:Okay, mind, slow down.
Speaker B:Probably not going to be too successful around that.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:But when you're able to slow down your body and you move your breath at the same rate as your body in a specific kind of focus, the mind will follow.
Speaker A:So what do you mean when you say slow down your body?
Speaker B:Yeah, if, I mean, I could do a practice right here, but I, I would start, I would start with, I wonder if I can do it.
Speaker B:Can I do that?
Speaker A:Yeah, you can try.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Okay, well, let's.
Speaker A:This is, this is a YouTube as well as an audio thing.
Speaker B:Okay, great.
Speaker B:Well, let's see if this will work.
Speaker B:I wasn't planning on it, but, but we'll see how the.
Speaker B:I'm going to move this.
Speaker B:But, you know, so what I usually do is I start with people to say, hey, we're going to slow down our body a bit.
Speaker B:And you're just going to stand with your feet shoulder width apart and you're just going to put your hand on your heart and your dan tien.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And so this lower hand is what will, what we're going to breathe into.
Speaker B:So when inhale deep, we inhale deep and make the belly go outward.
Speaker B:So diaphragmatic breathing.
Speaker B:And so we're dropping our energy and then we're down.
Speaker B:So we just begin to breathe naturally and then to begin to slow them down.
Speaker B:That'll slow them down just to refocus on their breath.
Speaker B:Then we can start moving.
Speaker B:And so a first simple movement that you can begin is you have your hands here.
Speaker B:You can't completely see them, but they're right about belly button level.
Speaker B:And when you inhale, you simply bring your hands up and you exhale.
Speaker B:You bring them down and the shoulders don't come up.
Speaker B:The shoulders just stay relaxed like the face.
Speaker B:Every time it takes a long time.
Speaker B:And then you exhale down.
Speaker B:So what I'm doing is I'm linking my breath with my movement and I'm consciously slowing down my body, linking my breath, creating a mind body connection.
Speaker A:Look like, are you like extending your knees a little bit there?
Speaker B:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker B:So the whole body breathes.
Speaker B:So when I pull my hands up, I'm inhaling slowly through my nose and I'm standing up a little bit.
Speaker B:And now I'm moving my knees slowly down just like this.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And this is a simple, simple way that I've opened tons of classes because anyone can do it.
Speaker B:And you just say, hey, you're just going to match your breath with your movement.
Speaker B:And then you bring the focus in.
Speaker B:So you can choose whether to focus at the bottom of your feet or focus on the sensation of the breath right underneath the nostrils.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And you simply begin to slow things down.
Speaker B:And that's, that's usually the way that I start people off in a training, because it's.
Speaker B:So they already have this.
Speaker B:They already have the ability to do all those things.
Speaker B:Most of them, if they need to sit down or they're injured or there's.
Speaker B:Or there's some type of physical challenge or whatever, I can definitely work around that.
Speaker B:Sitting down, you just have your feet flat on the ground and your toes spread.
Speaker B:And usually you can have your.
Speaker B:Your hands right on the top of your knees.
Speaker B:And the shoulders are back and relaxed.
Speaker B:The chin is tucked, and it starts there.
Speaker B:And then when you move from there, then you focus your mind on your breath and you just start with a sitting meditation that you know oh so well.
Speaker B:And then you can begin to move, move the body from a sitting position as well.
Speaker A:Beautiful.
Speaker A:I love that so much because it's so simple and it really is.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And yet powerful and simple.
Speaker A:Shouldn't be confused with not powerful.
Speaker A:I'll tell you.
Speaker A:I normally don't.
Speaker A:I reserve this story for my lectures and my classes.
Speaker A:But there's just real briefly.
Speaker A:I took a course from an aikido master named Hiroshi in Boulder, who was one of them at the time.
Speaker A:I don't know where he is now.
Speaker A:One of the five most accomplished in the world.
Speaker A:And he did a thing that's similar and you know, it's similar in some ways.
Speaker A:He was teaching aikido movement rather than aikido.
Speaker A:He said he wanted to teach people about movement who weren't martial artists.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker A:And so I was doing contact improvisation and ecstatic dance and all kinds of stuff at the time.
Speaker A:It was a ton of fun.
Speaker A:I was really into movement and I thought, oh, I've got to do this.
Speaker A:He was like a world class master in my backyard.
Speaker A:So I went to his thing and he taught this thing he called it was Eremi.
Speaker A:And he taught this and he would turn and he would like 360 degrees and he would go.
Speaker A:I think that's what he called it.
Speaker A:And he was like, just pay attention constantly.
Speaker A:See everything.
Speaker A:And he was all about the posture.
Speaker A:He wasn't into the form as much as he was just like into being present while you turn.
Speaker A:And then he would say, he said something.
Speaker A:And this is the lesson he said in this one thing is all of aikido.
Speaker A:And I thought, wait, what?
Speaker A:That really got my attention because I thought, this one motion, I mean, here's what one of the best in the world who spent his whole life studying this, and he's saying, if you master this one movement, you will know everything that I have learned in aikido.
Speaker A:Of course, not the technical aspects, but, you know, the embodied aspects of me.
Speaker A:And I'm going, my God, there's such a thing.
Speaker A:And it taught me that there's such a thing as a foundational practice that has embedded within it principles of understanding and, you know, basically a learning path to mastery of some presence or some kind.
Speaker A:And I feel like that this, you know, basic kind of simple movement started out with a simple movement that is exceptionally powerful when you bring yourself fully into it.
Speaker B:So wise.
Speaker B:So well said, Brett.
Speaker B:It's the profundity is in the simplicity.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:It's already here in front of us.
Speaker B:Very Taoist for sure, very Zen.
Speaker B:But it's so.
Speaker B:And it's so true that simple movement, if you are able to have complete focus on your movement, on your body and your breath, and you are aware you're beginning now he's doing three, three dimensional awareness which.
Speaker B:And he's probably posturing his straight up in maybe in a specific martial manner.
Speaker B:Depending.
Speaker B:Depending.
Speaker B:I don't know as much about the Japanese arts, but they, you know, Zen made it to Japan.
Speaker B:So that idea of movement and awareness and breath all aligned.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:If you could master that, you would be a master.
Speaker B:You would be a master.
Speaker B:So the idea of discipline every morning to do that, it's not the chase, the dangling carrot kind of thing.
Speaker B:It's not like I'm just gonna pop a pill.
Speaker B:And that's the difficult part of bringing it to people because I mean, if you give me five minutes with a crew of people, definitely we're going to become relaxed for sure.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:But what happens is if you want long term effects, you have to build in a practice in your morning.
Speaker B:You know, you have to do it whether it's before or after the cup of joe, if you drink coffee or tea.
Speaker B:But you.
Speaker B:It's like breakfast for the, for your.
Speaker B:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker B:Breakfast for the internal environment.
Speaker B:You gotta have that.
Speaker B:It's like music is food for the soul.
Speaker B:It's like the Tai chi and the mindfulness is the same.
Speaker B:And so if you have that practice, that mind, body practice every morning, a simple one, you can bring that into your day and that, that will begin your day in the way that is much more balanced and will offer much more, you know, overall harmony and awareness through your day.
Speaker B:Think of a comparison would be like you wake up, you get a double cap, you got a donut in your mouth, you're running out the door with a book in your armpit.
Speaker B:And then you show up to work, whatever your work may.
Speaker B:You know, in particular would be in the education world.
Speaker B:You show up to class with your kids or at a meeting, at an admin meeting, you're all over the place.
Speaker B:How are you supposed to present what's really going on?
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So if you look at the opposite of that, that's, that's what I seek to teach.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So powerful.
Speaker A:And, and I am glad you are doing that.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker A:It's so, and particularly in, you know, classroom educational environments, which are so understaffed, under resourced, over pressured, you can get shot, you can get, you can have ICE agents run into your room.
Speaker A:These days it's crazy intense.
Speaker A:And it's not like it's the best pay in the world.
Speaker A:So you're not doing it to get rich, you're doing it because it's what you love to do.
Speaker A:And so it's like a very, very stressful, high stress environment.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:It was the number one, number one job for burnout.
Speaker B: I think it was: Speaker B: teachers are burnt out in the: Speaker B:But the number one high stress job, and we're talking above lawyers, doctors, nurse, was teaching, was the education world.
Speaker B:And what are we doing about it?
Speaker B:We're not paying them more, we're not offering them tools.
Speaker B:No, we're not doing anything for them.
Speaker B:And they are, they're, they are bringing in our next generation.
Speaker B:They are modeling our next generation.
Speaker B:They are a parents to some kids.
Speaker B:You think about how long a teacher spends with their child.
Speaker B:Eight hours a day.
Speaker B:You wake up with your kid for maybe an hour tops and then they get home at 4 or 5, they go to bed at 9.
Speaker B:Your teachers are spending more time with your child and developing your child than you are.
Speaker B:Would you not want a healthy individual who's paid properly, who's ready to model what you want?
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:And I want to speak to another impact and that is that it's not so.
Speaker A:Yes, that's so important.
Speaker A:And then also it's the community of teachers.
Speaker A:It's the community, the culture that they're growing up in.
Speaker A:Don't you want, wouldn't you wish for every teacher to be able to be resourceful, resilient, present, mindful, capable, compassionate, caring and also skilled at what they do to create a culture in the school that kids can thrive in versus burned out, snappy, reactive, rigid, authoritarian, you know, and I don't have anything against being authoritarian from time to time, but you want to do so consciously and intelligently rather than just as a disposition because it's just goodness.
Speaker B:Right, Right.
Speaker B:Instead of teaching classroom management with fear or guilt.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Which we know works unfortunately.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Because it's, it's a short term fix.
Speaker B:And then, then the kids or the people embody that fear and they pass it on.
Speaker B:And then we're in our older, you know, that's how we create, that's how we create bullies in the world, how we create bullies.
Speaker B:And some of the, you know, the largest work we can do internally even at our age is to work on our own fears.
Speaker B:And some of those fears that we start appealing come, come back and they, they started in, in the classroom because you're afraid to look stupid or you're afraid to not do the right thing or.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:But if you.
Speaker A:Well, and those fears are well founded because people get shamed or they get hurt or, you know, it's like the Bright kid who's got add, who gets really enthusiastic and is really.
Speaker A:His passion is about lighting up around things.
Speaker A:But the teacher comes in, you have to calm down.
Speaker A:You can't be so excited.
Speaker A:You've got to.
Speaker A:And it's like, wait, then later in life they start to get excited and here comes this, oh, no, it's not okay for me to be that excited.
Speaker A:I have to pull back.
Speaker A:And then they wind up talking to me or in your classes to kind of like, how do I get in touch with, how can I move through this, to use your term, put it in your terms.
Speaker A:And slow from.
Speaker A:In my world, particularly the focus of mindful communications lately, it's like, how do I find my voice again?
Speaker B:Right, right.
Speaker B:And realizing that, that you were mentioning like a hyper focus or engagement from the folks who have adhd.
Speaker B:And that's, that's one of the gifts.
Speaker B:There are just as many gifts.
Speaker B:You not only have more energy to work with, but when you're focused and passionate about something and you, you do have symptoms of ADHD or you have been diagnosed, you are going to be able to laser focus in that.
Speaker B:And that passion that you have, it is very powerful and you can become very, very hyper focused.
Speaker B:Alongside of that, another superpower is creativity and also sensitivity.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So you can learn if you can slow it down.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And a lot of those thoughts, depending on those extra thoughts when you do slow down, they might not just be task based or random things from the past.
Speaker B:They might be just an overflowing wall of creativity.
Speaker B:And that gets squashed.
Speaker B:That gets squashed in the, in the classrooms.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:The creativity gets squashed because we always want to have the highest test scores.
Speaker A:Yeah, I know.
Speaker A:Oh, don't even get me started.
Speaker A:I'm having PTSD just talking about it.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:Yeah, no, me too.
Speaker B:Oh my gosh.
Speaker B:I was that.
Speaker B:I was that kid.
Speaker B:I was the class.
Speaker A:Yeah, me too.
Speaker B:I mean I.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker A:I was literally bored out of my mind.
Speaker A:I remember I don't talk about this much, but I remember being in like fifth grade, looking at the brick wall, listening to the clock go and then having these vivid, vivid daydreams in full color that were like 30 minutes long, you know, because I was bored to tears and I just, it was crazy making.
Speaker A:I was almost hallucinating.
Speaker A:I was so in, you know, awake, daydream.
Speaker A:I never, you know, felt like I was not in the classroom, but I was way, way out of, of my body, so to speak, if you want to call it that.
Speaker A:But I was in another world, right?
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Because you're shutting whatever they were trying to teach you weren't connected to it.
Speaker B:And that's really hard for a child or a person with adhd if you're not connected to the content.
Speaker B:It takes so much more focus.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And so you have to have scaffolding, you have to have support, such as fidgets, or you have to have something you can do with your hands, or you can have small meditations with your, your fingers or your feet or something sensory so you can stay focused.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And it helps if what they're teaching is actually interesting or useful.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:Or engaging.
Speaker A:Because it's like so much of, of what we're.
Speaker A:They're required is really kind of not relevant.
Speaker B:You know, it's, it's really, it's really not, Brett.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:It's not.
Speaker B:And that's, and that's difficult for kids to sit through a class they really don't, they really don't care about.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:That's because they're not.
Speaker A:I remember being, I don't.
Speaker A:This is, you know, Brett's right about being a school show, but.
Speaker A:Yeah, I remember staring out the window for hours and watching the cars go by.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:They can go anywhere they want.
Speaker A:Wow, what a world that would be.
Speaker A:I just was like projecting, someday that'll be me.
Speaker B:Someday that's going to be me.
Speaker A:I'll be in that.
Speaker A:I'll be that person.
Speaker A:If I can just sit through this hour, I'm one hour closer to being in that person.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:You know what?
Speaker B:And if you can imagine, like a teacher being aware enough to teach to a child's strengths, that they may be imagining things during the day, you may say, hey, what are you thinking about?
Speaker B:I'm thinking about knights and castles and stuff.
Speaker B:Cool.
Speaker B:So instead, your writing assignment is going to be based on knights and castles.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Or, hey, your art assignment is going to be on, you know, or you get older.
Speaker B:Hey, can I have an essay about the Middle Ages and the construction of neo Gothic cathedrals, Whatever it is you can gear Sounds cool.
Speaker B:The strengths, right?
Speaker B:So the child can be engaged.
Speaker B:And once you engage that child with, with that, those, those things such as impulsivity, adhd, whatever it might be.
Speaker B:Once they're engaged and you give them the content to engage in, they will blow people out of the water with what they can come up with, with creativity and how fast they can get things done and the insight.
Speaker B:But strength based teaching is so important.
Speaker B:It's difficult to do if you're in a system that is a little bit Too rigid.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Some schools are loosening up a little bit.
Speaker B:Public schools.
Speaker B:I currently work in a private school, so we have a little bit more wiggle room.
Speaker B:But engagement is key and strength based teaching is, is super important for children.
Speaker A:So, you know, it's like I want to invite, you know, the listeners and you know, to think about like I'm just going to ask this question, did you have a teacher that made it difference in your life?
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And it's like, wow, it's like many of us had.
Speaker A:And I know, you know, thinking about that situation where I described, I had these really crappy teachers that were just boring all day long.
Speaker A:And then I got into a different scenario where I had teachers that really made a difference to me.
Speaker A:They really made their subjects light up and they were fascinating and they were personable, they were, they would connect with me individually and they managed the classroom much more effectively because they made things more alive.
Speaker A:And those things really had an impact on me.
Speaker A:So I, you know, and I feel like that they were, I don't know if they were more mindful, but they were certainly more present to more the impact that they were having because they knew how to do it.
Speaker B:They knew.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:I bet that was it.
Speaker B:Probably Engagement, presence, they cared for you, there was a relationship created.
Speaker B:All of those are so essential for having a good teacher.
Speaker B:I remember my second grade teacher, my fourth grade teacher were my favorites.
Speaker B:Middle school, not so much.
Speaker B:High school, not even, not so much.
Speaker B:And then my favorite teachers came in.
Speaker B:Yeah, I'd struggled very, lots of struggle in the middle of the high school, but made it through.
Speaker B:It was when I got to college when I actually started to take the classes I wanted to take.
Speaker B:Take.
Speaker B:And then it was, I was off to the races because I started to take, you know, music appreciation, philosophy, literature, all of these studies that I was interested in.
Speaker B:And I still Remember Baron Baruzi, Dr.
Speaker B:Baruzi, if you're listening or if you're still around, life changing and.
Speaker B:And then it was my, it was my martial arts instructors too, that were, I mean, near father figures, right?
Speaker B:Like that, that level of teaching, I'm so jealous.
Speaker A:I wish I'd had that.
Speaker A:It's like my first, my first foray into taekwondo, which I took because I was getting beaten up all the time.
Speaker A:So I needed to learn to defend myself.
Speaker A:And so I was a member of this dojo and I was in a band and I played my, I played music and I sang.
Speaker A:And so the instructor said he had heard that and I ran across him at a Gift shop one time.
Speaker A:And he said, hey, Brad, I'm getting married.
Speaker A:And I said, oh, that's great.
Speaker A:That is so great.
Speaker A:He goes, so I want you to play at my wedding for free.
Speaker B:Oh, what?
Speaker A:And I said, well, I, you know, I just can't say yes because I have to check with the other guy.
Speaker A:He says, well, if you don't, I'm going to beat the crap out of you.
Speaker B:What?
Speaker B:That makes no sense.
Speaker A:I know, he's the teacher, right?
Speaker A:And I, and I'm like, well, that, you know, because I could never go back after that.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:It's kind of like.
Speaker B:That is bizarre.
Speaker B:I've never heard such a thing.
Speaker B:Obviously he's not a teacher.
Speaker B:Obviously he's.
Speaker A:Yeah, well, he was like the Cobra Kai, you know, I was just thinking.
Speaker B:Yeah, you needed the Miyagi, is what you need.
Speaker A:I needed Miyagi, I got Cobra Kai.
Speaker A:And I grew up in Oklahoma and there was a lot of Cobra Kai, so.
Speaker B:Oh, okay, okay, understood.
Speaker B:Misusing.
Speaker B:Misusing the force and.
Speaker B:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker B:Using it for the dark side, right?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:That's unfortunate.
Speaker B:Did you ever, Were you ever be able to go back into any kind of practice?
Speaker A:Well, I wound up getting into a.
Speaker A:This is not even any better.
Speaker A:I went back to YMCA to study judo and I started to learn some judo and the guy was nice, but then he threw me one day and I was doing a back fall, which you do in judo.
Speaker A:And you slept?
Speaker A:Well, I had extended my arm too quickly and so I landed with my left arm fully extended and my elbow got injured.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And so I've been like, oh my God, this really hurts.
Speaker A:And he says, oh, oh, I can.
Speaker A:Another guy, another black goes, oh, I can fix that.
Speaker A:And he got in there with his elbow and he's like really leaning.
Speaker A:This is like a 3,250 pound guy really leaning in and says, I was dislocated.
Speaker A:Don't worry, I can do this all the time.
Speaker A:Nothing happened.
Speaker A:Nothing got better.
Speaker A:Well, my dad was a doctor and so we, I went home and it was like, you know, swollen and messed up.
Speaker A:It was broken.
Speaker A:And so there's a 250 pound guy trying to reset a broken elbow.
Speaker A:So that was my good.
Speaker A:That was my foray into.
Speaker A:Into Marshall.
Speaker B:Yeah, I guess I looked out, huh?
Speaker B:Now it's never too late, Brad.
Speaker A:There is a happy ending.
Speaker B:Okay, good.
Speaker B:I was, I was waiting for that.
Speaker A:I wound, I wound up getting into.
Speaker A:I shared a room with a guy who was a instructor in the US army.
Speaker A:Black belt judo instructor.
Speaker A:And these guys were the, the light side of the force, you know.
Speaker A:And they knew that I had, they seemed to think I had some skills, which was strange to me.
Speaker A:And they took me around with them to their trainings.
Speaker A:And so I learned a blend of judo and taekwondo and stuff from these guys informally.
Speaker A:And at one point they said, well you're, you're like a brown belt level.
Speaker A:So that's, that's what.
Speaker A:But I didn't ever take any tests or anything.
Speaker A:Oh yeah, but that was my redemption story.
Speaker B:Okay, good.
Speaker B:There was a redemption, the redemption song all around it.
Speaker B:That's good.
Speaker B:I'm glad you got that because that could be scarring.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, well it definitely was.
Speaker A:I mean I'm still in therapy over these things.
Speaker B:Yeah, I'm still in therapy over it.
Speaker A:Well, I have just had such a great time talking to you.
Speaker A:You know, sometimes I'll ask and I think I will like what would you leave our listeners with who are like well how do I, you know, where do I get started?
Speaker A:I know they can find you.
Speaker A:You.
Speaker A:It's like, is there a practice that you can give somebody to just like do like today that they could begin to see for themselves what this is like?
Speaker B:Yeah, I would start with the practice that I introduced just a few minutes ago that the right moving, moving the hands up.
Speaker B:So when you inhale you bring up the hands super slow and coming back down.
Speaker B:The goal is to link your body, your breath and your intent or your body and breath and your focus together.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:For, for three to five minutes.
Speaker B:There's, there's also other self massage techniques I do around.
Speaker B:I, I introduce polyvagal theory mixed in with the qigong because the activating the poly vagus nerve in and out of qigong practice or breath based work is very powerful for calming someone.
Speaker B:So but yeah, if they're interested, you know it's info movetofocus.com and you can find me there.
Speaker B:That would probably be the best place to find me.
Speaker A:Oh, so that's the email address info@move m o v e the number2focus.com.
Speaker B:That would be the one.
Speaker A:Okay, well we'll put all of that in the show notes so people can connect with you and see what you go to your massive YouTube channel.
Speaker A:You, you have a massive YouTube.
Speaker B:You know I don't have YouTube, I have Instagram.
Speaker B:Yeah, okay, we're going to choose one.
Speaker B:It's, it's such a, it can take so much of your time away.
Speaker B:So it's like okay, I'm just gonna choose one Instagram that's blessings to you.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's really hard to figure this out.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, it's, it's move Underscore two, underscore focus.
Speaker B:If you look on Instagram.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker A:Well, we'll put that link in the short in the show notes, too, so people can find you on Instagram.
Speaker A:And I don't have a giant Instagram presence.
Speaker A:I, I, you know.
Speaker B:Oh, neither do I.
Speaker A:Let's just can't do much.
Speaker B:No, no.
Speaker B:It's secondary to my practice and supporting teachers, administrators, and students, you know, so.
Speaker A:Thank you so much for the work that you're doing and particularly for the on behalf of every kid you've ever helped.
Speaker A:Thank you, Rob, and I really appreciate it.
Speaker A:And it's been just such fun talking with you.
Speaker B:So great talking with you, Brett.
Speaker B:Super kind to just spend time with you and I hope we get to chat again.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker A:I'm sure we will.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker A:The Mindful Coach Podcast is a service of the Mindful Coach Association.
