Rewire Your Life with One Daily Practice | Mike Holland

I live by a philosophy of how you do anything is how you do everything.

Meet Mike Holland, creator of the Mind Body Energy Method.

I'm taking ancient movement, combining it with ancient breathwork. Yeah. And just kind of broadcasting it. Yeah. To the world to just, hey, just try it.

I was on Facebook and your video popped up. It stopped me. I think it's just really intriguing content for people that want to be fit, but they also want to feel good.

Movement is medicine. Through different movements, unlocking trapped energy in your body, you optimize your health.

You've amassed almost a million followers. How did that all happen?

His Follow the Flow routine turned into a global daily reset built for real life, not just the gym.

Now it's reached over 200 million views.

I've been like a student of the mind-body connection and warming your body up in the most efficient, effective way for a very long time. I had a breathwork guru who kind of taught me, my brother, my sisters, and the local people in my neighborhood. And I remember he would have me run with like a towel in my mouth. Just to teach me about nasal breathing.

Wow.

The person who is the most optimal athlete is the one who has the ability to— Wim Hof, you look at him, he does not look like the epitome of health. No, he likely— maybe he never even had abdominal muscles that were visible at any time in his life. Yeah, but you put him in, in the environment of like the mind-body connection gets put to the test and he'll outhold everybody.

There's certain people that don't keep promises to themselves. And there's other people like yourself that keep virtually all promises to themselves. I don't know what separates those, those types of people. What do you think it is?

That's a great question. To me, your mindset is the frequency that your mind is set on. So if your mind is set on all those negative kind of lower vibrations, yeah, then guess what you're going to attract into your life.

I think having a practice to realign regularly is really key.

The way I structure it now is I write down the day, the time, whatever's kind of on my mind. If there's something that, like a word that comes to mind, I'll put that kind of in the top. And then I wrote the code that I live by.

Okay, what is that?

So the code that I live by is just—

What's up guys, welcome to the show. In this episode, I'm interviewing Michael Holland. What's funny is I was consuming his content about a week ago and I started doing the movements that he teaches. Now on social media, he's been blowing up. He's gotten almost a million followers in less than a year and it's because the stuff that he's sharing really resonates with people. He teaches a very simple yet profound movement routine that can enhance your mind-body connection. We talk a lot about that, but we also go deep on discipline and how to become the best version of yourself. So if that interests you, stay tuned and I hope you enjoy. So things have changed a lot for you in the last year.

Yeah, started social media, man.

And you said you started in April?

In April.

So you're, you know, significantly less than a year in and you've amassed almost a million followers. How did that all happen?

Yeah, so when I started social media, I had, um, I think I had 2,000 followers just because I had the account as like you know, friends and family, how, how a normal person would, would utilize social media. I guess I would never post in it. I would just go scroll, stay in contact with people. And then I actually had a, a microdosing mushroom company, and it kept getting red flagged on social media. So it kept getting red flagged. So I talked to my partner. I was like, hey, you know what, um, I'm just going to build up my own social media, and, and then we could just market through there. And that was kind of the original idea. Yeah. So I started learning about social media, understanding how the algorithm works, just doing my due diligence. And the account started taking off like a little bit, you know, $10,000, $20,000 right in the beginning, like first month maybe. And then I started learning about trial reels. I started doubling down on trial reels, figuring out what kind of videos that I could create that kind of took off. And then tripled down on trial reels and then blew the account.

Wow.

And they took trial reels from me after like a month. So I haven't had trial reels. I was only able to use that for like a month.

They took it away?

Yeah, they just randomly took it away.

Really?

Yeah.

Pretty sure I have trial reels.

Yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure you do. But for whatever reason, I had it for like a month, maximized the use of it.

Yeah.

And then I feel like—

because when you're— when you have a small account, it's all friends and family. You don't want to just post a whole bunch of crap.

No.

Like you're almost like Well, do I start a new account or do I keep this one?

Yeah. No, I was embarrassed. I was like, what am I, what am I doing now? All of a sudden people know me as being a very introverted person, right? Yeah. So, and then now I'm sharing all this shit on social media, like, and I understand how social media works. Social media is like things go viral and then other creators see those things that went viral and kind of put their own twist on that video and reshare it. And then, and then that's how they grow their accounts. Yeah. I was kind of doing the same thing. But everybody knows what I was doing for like my real life occupation or whatever. If it wasn't in line with what I believe in, it just was weird. So, so I thought trial reels was awesome.

It was like the best of all worlds.

Oh man, I just sent it to a bunch of people that don't know me anyway. Yeah. And now the account's so big that I don't even think my friends and family follow me now. It's just a bunch of people who follow me for, for the value that I add to their life in some way.

Trial reels are cool. We, so we posted a video Um, I was golfing and, um, Elliot was in the golf cart behind us and he flipped the golf cart by accident. It wasn't like he wasn't being reckless or anything. He just like accidentally turned a little too much, too hard. But because the golf cart flipped in the background and I happened to be making a joke about, uh, chilies, I don't remember what I said. It was something like if your high school friends started a Mexican restaurant, you'd get chilies or something. Yeah. And combination of those two things made the thing go super viral. Like, I don't even know how many millions of views it has now. But then we just started clipping it and posting it on trial reels, and there's so many of them that have millions of views. Yeah, like a ton of followers came my way from it. It's a pretty cool little thing.

Yeah, anybody who ever asked my advice on how to like grow on social media, I always tell them like, identify your top performing videos that are in line with like what you believe in. Because you got to think about it too, like if I start posting a bunch of videos about about golf, let's say, and everybody knows I don't golf. Yeah, I've golfed like twice in my life. Yeah, it just, it's just disingenuous. So if I grow this big golf following and I go back to posting what I know about, yeah, they're gonna be like, yo, I followed you for golf, right? What happened here?

Yeah, but you want to— you got a lot of— because your videos started going viral and then you actually got a lot of people that came and followed you because of that.

Yeah. Oh yeah.

Were you posting regularly so that your new followers always had new content to see?

Yeah. Always. So, so I, I, I live by a philosophy of how you do anything is how you do everything. Like, that's just how I am in everything in my life.

Yeah.

So I'm very, very disciplined to— when I say I'm going to do something, I'm, I'm going to figure out how to do it. And, and maybe I won't be the best in the world at it, but I'll, I'll be the best that I possibly can be at it.

Yeah, you show up for yourself. Yeah.

So that's kind of how it was. I was like, okay, microdosing keeps getting red flagged regardless, whatever, let's pivot here. I'm focused on building my account now. How can I add value to people's lives? Well, what do I do? Well, I've been a fit guy since I was a kid. I'm into like movement and mindset. You know, I've read every self-help book there is over the, you know, I believe just life's a journey of self-discovery. So I was like, let me just focus on the things that I naturally want to learn and get better at anyway.

Right.

And so, so that's what I did.

Yeah.

That stuff kind of resonated with people. Because like the movement practice seems very like qigong, like old lady grandma looking movements. And then they see a jacked dude, you know, on the beach and it's like, what's going on? Yeah, you know, this is like, this is catching my attention.

I think anyone who wants to be fit, they kind of have that like, well, I don't want to necessarily be a bodybuilder that can't, you know, wipe my own ass kind of thing. And as I age, I want to feel good. And like, it was funny when I was, I was like on my phone scrolling on Facebook. I try not to keep social media on my phone, but I'm in a watch group. I like to like buy and sell watches.

Yeah.

And I was on Facebook and your video popped up.

Mm-hmm.

And actually it stopped me from what I was doing and I did the movement practice that was in your video.

Mm-hmm.

So it's, it's, it's, I think it's, it's just really intriguing content for people that want to be fit, but they also want to feel good.

Yeah. Yeah. That's what a lot of the feedback that I get from people is, you know, I get people that come up to me all the time now and be like, wait, are you that guy?

Yeah. Yeah.

Sometimes Yeah, I know I'm the guy that they're probably referencing. And yeah, I feel like the algorithms are, you know, they're kind of smart in a way, you know. If you spend a certain amount of time on something, it's likely you're gonna see that or some variation of that again. Yeah, you know. What—

so what was the first— was there like one video that just like totally popped off and like changed your trajectory?

There's a handful. I mean, there's some videos that I have that— because you can look at those like analytics now. Yeah, that have like 10 or 20 million views, and I could see like one video, I got 100,000 followers just— wow— one video.

Wow.

Another one might be like 60 or 70,000. Yeah.

Have you identified what made those videos do so well versus some other things you do?

I think there's like multiple factors that play into it, whether it's the voiceover, whether it's like the, the hooks right in the beginning, you know. Now that I know about it and I kind of know what You know, it's very easy for me to make a video that can get 100,000 views in the first day because I kind of know, but then I don't, I don't have access to trial reels anymore. So I don't want to overwhelm like the people that actually are coming to me for value. Right.

That makes sense.

Yeah. So, so now it's like I never cared about the following. It became a game because I was getting like 10,000 followers a day for a long time. Yeah. And, uh, and now I get like 1,000 or 2. Yeah. But now it's the, the mission has become something of its own. Now it's just, and it always has been, but ever since I got to like $100,000, it was like a refocus on how can I truly help people? Yeah. And that, that's been the mission.

You love that.

How can I? My first goal was like to help a million people take control of their health and live life on their own terms. Yeah, I know for a fact I could do that.

Yeah.

And many more millions than a million. Yeah. And let's be honest, there's no, there's no way I can even count that metric, right? So it's just like an arbitrary thing, right? But it's seems like a noble pursuit, right? Because it's something that I am able to do for my own life, my friends and family, you know, who are close to me. I'm able to help them. But now I want to create a system that it's just like, it's, it's available for everybody. Yeah.

I love that. What was the commitment you made for posting on social media? You said, you know, if you commit to something, you're going to do it. Like, what did you decide you're going to do?

Post 2 to 3 reels a day, every day.

Wow.

Yeah.

Did you ever miss any days? No. Never?

No. Hell no.

Yeah, I love that. You're like, why would I?

Yeah, that was the outside. Yeah, yeah. No, no, no. I mean, there's some that I, uh, you know, doubled and tripled that probably too. Yeah, you know, so on. Yeah, but I don't, I don't think there's one day that I missed ever.

That's a common theme now that I'm hearing. Um, my last episode I interviewed Nas Daily. I was showing you the video he just put out.

It's awesome.

We haven't released— actually, by the time this comes out, that will have already came out. But he basically committed to posting at least once every day for 1,000 days in a row. And it was like, I forget what day number it was. It was like day number 700 or something when like everything changed for him. So people just want instant gratification in life. They want to just— they want to try something and they want to do something in life, but they want to know it's going to work before they actually do it. And they don't put in the time and effort to get past that kind of valley of disappointment. How do you keep yourself disciplined? And, you know, how do you stick— have you always been the type of person that would stick to the things you said you're gonna do?

Yeah, always. I mean, throughout all life, since upbringing, I always wanted to impress my dad, right? My dad's like an old-school Marine Corps helicopter pilot, Vietnam vet. Like, you know, if I could never be as— do anything like what he's done. Yeah, a real living hero in a lot of ways. So I, uh, when I was a kid, I just would do push-ups in front of him. Yeah, you know, and then he'd put his fist down or whatever, and he'd count as long as my chest hit his fist or whatever. He'd count them, and they'd hit sometimes, and he wouldn't count them, and just to test me, like, mentally. Yeah. So ever since I was like 6 years old, I've been doing push-ups and sit-ups every night before I go to bed. So I developed like abs, I'd say, like when I was like maybe 8 years old. Yeah, you know, 8, 9, 10, around that age. And, and it was just— I think that was maybe the beginning of like just wanting to be the best, right? You know, regardless, again, another, another silly metric to use, like what does it even mean, right? But again, I think early on that was just kind of like this is what you think makes you like a cool kid or a tough kid or whatever is, is having muscles. Yeah, go all in.

Yeah, I love that.

And that carried on me even to this day.

I love that, you know. And by the way, anyone watching or listening, the building is doing a fire test all day today. It's been since 9 AM, so ignore the, uh, the flashing lights. And if there's sounds, we might take a little break, but we should be all good. It'll make this one unique.

Yeah.

Um, that's really interesting. So, but a lot of people didn't grow up that way. They didn't, they didn't have a role model that pushed them to do things like that. And maybe they developed the opposite of discipline or routine and they, they ingrained, you know, as we do things over and over again, we create synapses in our brain that are harder and harder to break. What kind of advice would you give to someone who might be, you know, in their 20s or even 30s and they just have never had discipline before?

Yeah, so I would say another kind of cliché or whatever that I, that I believe is your perception creates your reality in a lot of ways. So it's depending on how you perceive things will determine how you either let that destroy you or let that inspire you. Yeah, you know, so like the same thing, like the story that always comes to mind is like the two twins, the identical twins that were raised in like an alcoholic household. And their dad beat their mom every day. Yeah. And the one kid grew up to be an alcoholic because he thought of nothing else, and the one other kid ended up becoming whatever, a medical doctor, never had a drink or a drug in his life. It's like those two kids had the same upbringing, same experience, but they perceived it in two completely different ways. Yeah, right, right. So I kind of look at that. I try to take a step back in everything that occurs in my life and just try to get the best understanding of how I can reframe it in a way, yeah, where it's beneficial to my life. Yeah. And not negative.

Well, that— in order to do that and reframe and have perspective, you need to prioritize having solitude or having time to yourself to even reflect. And it feels like so many people are just waking up and reacting all day. They never really get a chance to stop and think. Are there practices or things that you do in life that where you kind of have your best time to yourself to reflect and, you know, recalibrate?

Yeah, absolutely. I probably I'm up there with like holding the record for how many days consistently journaled. Like, I've been journaling for over 20-some years.

Wow.

And I'm 39. Like, I started that practice. I came across— actually, we were talking, you like interested in self-help and all that. So I discovered Tony Robbins, right? So I saw Tony Robbins and I was like, this guy is way too much for me. He's way too animated. So again, this is how I do a lot of things still to this day in life. I'm like, who taught him? Yeah. You know, and then I find out this guy Jim Rohn, right? Him, that was right. Idaho farm boy. So, so I just started doubling down on all Jim Rohn content. Yeah, I was like, oh well, this makes sense. Tony's talking about the same things Jim talked about, right? And then he learned from this guy Earl Shoaff, you know, so, so I was like connecting all these puzzle pieces. But for whatever reason, I resonated with Jim Rohn. Really? And I remember him saying like, the only things you leave behind— this is obviously a dated kind of sentence that he said, but The only thing you leave behind are your pictures and your journals.

Wow.

Now obviously you have social media platforms and all this, but he said this in like the '70s or '80s and '90s. Yeah, I think he ended up dying in the early 2000s or so. Yeah, but for whatever reason, I just resonated with him, right? And, and, and a lot of like my philosophies and thoughts kind of came from that early on programming of just like how to think and how to speak with people and what's important and what's not important. And he just would always talk about journaling. So I just started listening to him, you know.

Yeah.

And I remember him, he's writing on a green chalkboard, you know, everybody's there with their notepads dressed like to the nines because like that's how things happened back then, right? You know, now I rock shorts and t-shirt, you know, they wouldn't even let me in, but whatever, you know. Yeah, times have changed.

I think the antithesis of doing something regularly is thinking that you have to do it perfectly. So like, it— for someone listening, it might feel like, oh, it's overwhelming to do something every single day.

Mm-hmm.

But in reality, if you sit down and you start journaling something, even if it's just one sentence, it's better than doing nothing. But like, do you have a specific type of practice you do with your journaling, or is it just go with the flow?

Yeah. Yeah, it's evolved over the years, of course, but the way I structure it now is is I write down the day, the time, whatever's kind of on my mind. If there's something that, like a word that comes to mind, I'll put that kind of in the top. And then I wrote the code that I live by.

Okay, and what is that?

So the code that I live by is just kind of simple things that we kind of touched on already, like how you do anything is how you do everything. Yeah. Vibrate at a frequency of peace, love, joy, enlightenment, you know, just certain things like that. Yeah. And that's just the code section. Yeah. And then to me, within that section, this isn't really a code, but this is what I find to be like the most successful person in the world, in my opinion, is the one who has fulfilled freedom. Hmm. So think about the term of like absolute freedom, the ability to do whatever you want with whoever you want whenever you want. So obviously you have an abundance of health and wealth, right, to accomplish that, right? However, and I'm sure you know people because you're in the golf scene, you probably come across plenty of people with— maybe they're healthy and they definitely have wealth, right? Yeah, but they're unfulfilled. Yeah. So, so for whatever reason, I used to always write absolute freedom was my goal until I talked to my dad one day and he was like, he gave me like very words of wisdom, I would say. And it's like, hey, you don't have to be satisfied, but make sure you're fulfilled. Ah, you know, every day. Yeah, you don't have to be satisfied, but make sure you're fulfilled.

What's the difference between satisfaction and fulfillment?

I don't really know, but whatever. It just kind of makes sense to me. Satisfaction to me, I guess, is— I've thought about that, that's why I answer so quickly— but it's like true fulfillment is just like almost like it's another word for gratitude. Yeah, like, like just appreciate the things that you have and understand that this life and this existence is is so finite, right? Like, it's gonna come to an abrupt end most likely, and you're gonna have zero control of it. Yeah, you know, so, so, very true. So the fulfillment part, that's kind of how I process it. Again, I don't know, man. Life's a journey of self-discovery. So, you know, I'm just trying to figure it out.

It's like you can be grateful knowing that life is very short. And by the way, like, when people in your family start passing away as you get older, you realize life is limited and You don't take anything with you, but you can be fulfilled each day. That doesn't mean you have to be satisfied with your circumstances. You could still work towards changing things. I think that's the difference.

Yeah, that would make sense, right? Because like, uh, yeah, that, that makes perfect sense. Yeah.

Yeah, I like that. Um, one journaling practice that, that I do regularly that we were talking about before the podcast is at the end of the day, I do a daily recap. Because like, you know, as my businesses have, you know, taken on different shapes and form and the family life starts kicking in and there's more responsibilities and more things going on, the mind becomes more overwhelmed. And oftentimes the most urgent things take over as opposed to the most important things, which aren't that urgent. But the practice that I've been doing kind of probably for the last like 3 years or so is a daily recap. So I'll just off of memory, I'll I'll try to write down every single thing I did for the day. What time I woke up, drank water, went to the bathroom, did breathwork, you know, to the office, this meeting, that meeting. And as I'm going through this stuff, I'm also like remembering other things that I should prioritize. And then I use a— I used to use a 4-colored pen, but now I have this reMarkable, which has multiple colors. And I'll write down like good behaviors, like things that I want to do for myself in green. And then like destructive behaviors in red, and then just kind of rate the day. It's just a moment to reflect and realign because it's like we, we wake up and we have so many things we can react to, especially in today's day and age compared to, you know, 100 years ago when there's much less stimulation. Mm-hmm. And you, you learn these truths, like the things we're talking about right now, you learn them and you understand them, you comprehend them. But if you can't re-remember them on a regular basis, you're not gonna live by them. So I think having a practice to realign regularly is really key. It's like you wrote down, you know, the— your code.

Mm-hmm.

It's like if you don't sit down and write that code and reflect on that code, it's in the back of your mind, but you're really gonna live by it.

Mm-hmm.

So I think it's really important to realign with your own truth about life on a regular basis and try not to be so reactive.

Yeah, absolutely. Now, do you stay consistent and you do that every night?

I can be more consistent, and I'm going to get inspiration from this conversation. You've been journaling every day for 20-something years. That's, that's pretty— yeah, I can definitely be more consistent.

Yeah, and that's everything to me, you know, like consistency is, is, is so essential.

So do you find that— do you, do you have inner conflicts where your mind's like, oh, we don't need to do that, and you do it anyway? Or have you just trained yourself to where you don't even have those thoughts anymore in terms of like sitting down to journal in the morning, or if you're gonna, you know, post every day, like, are you fighting inner demons and battles, or are they not even in the picture? No, not in the picture.

No, I think, I think, I think as far as journaling, I mean, I've been doing that one so long that it's just like part of my lifestyle. Yeah, like, like it's known. Yeah, like, like Siobhan, my business partner, she, she gets me these journals now. I started with just the marble copybooks or whatever, and then I've progressed into like nicer customized journals, right?

Yeah.

But, um, but I get them every year. So I got 3 a year, you know.

So it's just like, well, with the journals, you've been doing it so long, but are there other things in your life like a cold plunge or a hard workout or something that's not necessarily comfortable that you have to debate with yourself internally to get yourself to do?

Yeah, I would say every day, you know, every day, you know, I, I, my bed's comfortable. So it's— of course I don't want to get up at 4:00 AM. So, so when the light comes on at 4:00 AM, I, I have that inner conflict. And, you know, to take a word from like Goggins, would be like that inner bitch, right? So it's like, you know, do you want to just stay in bed? Yeah. Well, then you're going to be like everyone else. Yeah.

You know, do you ever stay in bed? You always just get it— get up and get after it?

Sometimes till like 4:30, 4:45, but, but, but I'm getting up before the sun.

Yeah, no, that's a challenge that I, I've struggled with my whole life is like, oh, I'm gonna wake up at 5 and then 5 comes along and, or maybe for a week I do it and then, you know, after the first week that the mind starts to get better and more clever. Oh, you know, you're gonna get sick if you don't, if you don't sleep more. Oh, you know, that's bullshit. I'm gonna do it. Or no, you're gonna, you're gonna get really sick. And it's like, okay, fine, I'll sleep a little bit more. Yeah. Um, but I find that winning those battles is what leads to confidence, and I think confidence gives you your, you know, your highest potential in life. So it seems like, you know, the answer is winning those battles, but I feel like for— there's certain people that, that don't keep promises to themselves, and there's other people like yourself that keep virtually all promises to themselves. I, I don't know what separates those those types of people?

What do you think it is that separates the people that keep promises to themselves versus ones that don't? That's a great question. I don't think I have the answer to it. Yeah, I don't know. I just know I'm not gonna be one of them. Yeah, you know.

Yeah. Are there— are there like— have you found that with any new habits that you've implemented, after a certain period of time they just kind of become part of your life? Like, is there a struggle in the beginning that become part of my life? Yeah, like posting, for example.

When you first started posting, that's a recent one, right? Yeah, because I was— I wouldn't say again, I think I was kind of anti-social media. Yeah, because I was probably like everybody, every other guy who was on social media. You look at it, you see a girl in a bikini. Yeah, next thing you know, start liking this. But that's your whole algorithm, right? You know, you start looking at fancy cars. For you, it might be nice watches or whatever, and it's like The algorithm now, which they just changed, you can actually modify it now. Yeah, which is smart, right? So now I took that time and just did— first off, I don't consume many social media. When I made that commitment to like create on social media, like I follow 5 people, but everybody's muted, so I don't see anybody's, anybody's content.

Wow. You know, what do you see when you open social media?

Well, I see the content, but I'm just saying like I don't, I don't consume content. Yeah, I view social media as I'm in a different category. I'm a creator. I'm not a consumer. Yeah, so that's just how I frame it. Yeah, so, so when I'm on social media, I'm editing a clip, or once in a while I will say I'll like be inspired. If I'm inspired, if I need to go for inspiration, yeah, then I'll actually like look at something I'm trying to create on. Yeah, and I use it as inspiration. Yeah, but that's it. There's no consumption.

Yeah, because a little bit of consumption leads to a lot of consumption.

Sure. I mean, it's like anything. Yeah. Again, how you do anything is how you do everything. You, if you start sliding down that, that slope, it's slippery. Yeah.

So, so you, you have social media on your phone and you use it to create, but you're able to avoid the, the kind of the rabbit hole. Yeah.

There's no slipping, no consuming anything. Yeah. And plus now look at today, man. It's kind of, it's kind of a crazy maze to navigate, right? Because now you got the implementation of AI. So it's like, again, going back to the girl analogy, since, since so many like pretty girls will grow accounts on social media for whatever, we know the reasons, but now there's like AI pretty girls. Yeah. And you look at that and you're like, whoa, what am I doing here?

What's that going to do to humanity?

Exactly. And how is that useful?

Right.

Because now I'm degrading like real women, you know, in a way, because I'm comparing them to, to the perfection that's not even real.

It used to be you're comparing to the best version of someone. Now you're comparing to something that's literally not even real anymore.

Yeah, which is social media in general too. Remove the girls, but it's like you're comparing yourself to somebody's highlight reel, which probably isn't even real, right?

You know, but, but it goes a step further now with AI. There's no more— it's not the highlight reels anymore, it's like the completely fake AI-generated reels of life.

Yeah. So what do you think is going to happen with AI and all that?

I think there's a couple things that's going to happen. I think we're already in a time now where you don't really know what's true and what's not true. I'll use an example. Like, I remember I saw on X, I saw a video. It was a conflict between Israeli soldiers and people in Palestine. And there was like some kind of violent conflict. And I saw the video posted two different times from two different accounts. And one, one basically said, you know, Israeli soldiers were giving food to the Palestinians and they got attacked and they were defending themselves. And the other video said Israeli soldiers lured in Palestinians with food so they can attack them. Yeah, same exact video. Yeah, but completely different perspectives based on if you saw one or the other. Luckily I saw both. Yeah, but it was like Okay, I would have been really angry about this one or really angry about that one, but now I'm complacent because I'm like, well, I don't even know what's true. So I have no attachment to what's going on. So I think with more, you know, fake content or AI-generated content that you don't know what's real and what's not real, people are just going to become like indifferent to things.

So you think it will make it more it will make stuff like more truthful and believable and it will expose kind of the fake stuff, or you think it's going to be used to create even more?

I think it's going to— everything's going to be a— or most things are going to be AI generated over the next 10 years.

Yeah.

And so people aren't going to really care that much. It's going to be more of like an entertainment thing. That's what, what I believe is going to happen.

Yeah.

But we're also going to be way more easy to manipulate as a society when there's unlimited content that could be generated, you know, with the click of a button to make us feel a certain way. And with all the data of the algorithm, they know exactly what invokes certain emotions, what keeps people to keep watching, what gets them to comment. And they could analyze the types of comments to see how people are feeling about them. And it's getting stronger, you know. And then now, have you seen videos that are created on like Sora or VO— VO— what's it called? VO3?

I haven't.

The AI— you haven't seen any of that stuff? No. You probably haven't. You haven't even realized. Yeah, I probably have. I remember I I saw a video recently, it was a woman, a very, very fat woman on a stretcher in a hospital.

Yeah.

And then the floor breaks and she falls through the floor.

I think I saw that.

But it looks pretty, it looks like 95% real, but I'm like, that can't be real. Like she was like a little too fat for it to be real kind of thing. But like that's now, imagine what happens in 10 years when you literally can't differentiate anymore.

And if you saw that and I saw that, video's probably got 100 million views. Views. Yeah, you know. Yeah. So, which—

but I think it does leave room for genuine authenticity and, and human touch. But I think the more genuine people are the people that are going to stand out. Like, the content that you're making, yeah, I think is something that will never go away.

I hope so. Yeah, because I, I think about that sometimes. And, and don't get me wrong, I'll utilize AI to the extent of research. Like, sure, I'm sure you use ChatGPT or Grok or whatever it is. It's like, if I'm learning about whatever, stoicism, it's like, hey, give me a breakdown of the originality or how stoicism originated, who were the first stoics, blah blah blah. And I get all that information, and then I take that information, and then I include that into whatever I'm talking about. Yeah, I don't talk about it as if I'm the expert here. I just utilize it so it's accurate information. Yeah. You know, because if I'm doing a video with a voiceover and there's Marcus Aurelius is talking or whatever, then I want it to be accurate, right? I want to put out the most, you know, truthful, you know, content that I could find.

Yeah.

But that's pretty much the extent, you know what I mean? Like, I can't see people really being drawn towards like artificial intelligence and all that kind of bullshit with like with, with content like that I create, right? You know, I feel like people follow me because they want to connect with me, right? You know? Yeah.

Which is a good way to use AI. But what do you think happens like when society at scale and younger people more specifically have access to all the knowledge in the known universe, or at least, you know, what the LLMs say is, is real. And, and kids and young people, they don't need to go and learn things anymore. They don't need to go and research something. What happens to people's critical thinking skills? Like, does it, does it enhance society, or is it, does it dumb us down?

I think it's just like evolution, man. It's like the species is going to evolve. And how does evolution work? Evolution continues to utilize what's useful. When something becomes no longer useful, it evolves out. Right, you know, so you either adapt, adjust, and overcome it, or, or, or you're going—

which, to be honest, brings me back to like the stuff that you teach and the stuff you talk about. I think those are the types of skills that are going to differentiate people. The mind-body connection. Imagine you don't have any type of mind-body connection and you're just reacting to all this stuff all the time. What happens to you physically?

Oh, everything that's bad you can imagine will happen. Yeah, so I'm all about connection. So, so that mind-body connect— I look at the world like there's people that want to connect with the world, reality, be present, and there's people that want to disconnect, right? Okay, and I feel like you, you likely want to disconnect with the world if you're not proud of the person you are, you're not happy with this current existence. Yeah, you know what I mean? Yeah, why else would you want to disconnect, right? And by disconnect, you could take take it however you want, whether it's through social media, whether it's through alcohol and drugs, or whether it's through whatever. I believe that the reason somebody does that is because they're just not happy with their present state. They're not proud of the person they see in the mirror, right? And that's what led me to basically build that Mind Body Energy movement that I've been building. It's because I want to teach people how to be as capable as possible. Yeah, and capable is like You could take that word in many different avenues as well, but at the end of the day, it's just being capable is being proud of the person you see in the mirror. Yeah, you know, and having the ability to take care of your family, to take care of your own health and wellness, to provide through, through economical means as well.

Yeah, I love that. It's like, well, it goes back to what you're originally saying, like be fulfilled, but don't always be satisfied. If you're fulfilled, you might not want to escape and disconnect. You might want to connect more.

Absolutely.

By being— by showing up for yourself, keeping— so what do you think, like, what are some things people can do from a movement perspective or a habit routine perspective? Yeah, that can make them feel more confident or fulfilled, you know, therefore not wanting to disconnect as much.

Yeah, so the reason it's mind-body-energy, right? Mind is first for a reason. It's all about your mindset. So if you break down that word mindset, I like breaking everything down into its most simplistic terms, right? And no simpler though. So mindset. To me, your mindset is the frequency that your mind is set on. So if your mind is set on, let's just say, a low frequency— shame, regret, just all those negative kind of lower vibrations— yeah, then guess what you're going to attract into your life, in my opinion? Yeah, like if you're just shameful, regretful, chances are, you know, a supermodel is not gonna walk by and kiss you on the cheek, right? Oh, people are probably going to look at you and be repulsed by it, you know. Yeah, you're probably going to get a flat tire, you might hit a pothole, you might trip and stub your toe. Like, I believe that everything is vibration, 100%, and frequencies is like— I guess it's the law of vibration, and then frequencies is how we would kind of gauge them. So first and foremost, you have to set your mind on the frequency that you want to exist on. So the higher vibrations that I touched on earlier, I, I believe the highest vibrations on that chart are like peace, love, joy, enlightenment. Yeah, I think enlightenment is kind of, kind of very similar to like being your authentic self, is like authenticity in a way. So that's where it all starts. You have to set your mind, or whatever you want to frame it as, like identify your goals, like what do you want to manifest, who, what, what person do you desire to become, like what would make you proud. And then once you identify that I view the movement practice as a way to fine-tune your frequency. Ah, because once your mind is set on a higher frequency, then you obviously have to control your body to a certain degree. So I believe movement is medicine. Yeah. And through different movements, unlocking trapped energy in your body, you optimize your health. So when you get your mind and body on that, like, that balance or harmony you could optimize your energy. Yeah, and I believe energy is everything. Yeah, it goes back to the frequencies.

That honestly ties in like very closely to the way I see the world as well. It's like we don't know how things are gonna happen. There's so many things that could happen. We can only really, you know, have an impact on our own energy, and in doing so, things will happen the way they're supposed to, but of that same frequency. Yeah, I have a movement practice that I've been doing for a couple years. It's different than your movement practice, but it's still— it implements movement and energy. I call it the Perfect Walk.

Okay.

And it's basic. I do this every day. This is like my non-negotiable.

Nice.

It takes about 25-30 minutes. Sometimes I'll do it after like a mile run when my energy is a little bit higher, but it goes along with music, and then there's 5 parts of it and 5 songs.

Okay.

The first part is feeling grateful. You know, thinking about people you love, opening your heart, you know, basically like I'll think about my kids and, you know, my family's health and things that I'm just really grateful for. And then the second part is feeling your power and your strength. So the music becomes, you know, stronger, louder, you know, you're walking like the strongest version of yourself. Problems that were really affecting you seem to be much easier to get rid of. You know, you're just, you're just walking through life, you know, blasting through brick walls, solving your problems. The third part is letting go and being present. So just, you know, really get into the moment. The fourth part is you start to feel connected with a higher power, whatever you believe in. You know, I try to have that reconnection with God and the universe and, and just really expand the awareness further. And then the last part is a celebration. So you're celebrating, you know, the fact that you got out in the morning and did this, or if there's something you really want to happen in life a certain way, You're just walking as if it already happened and you're maybe you're in your mind, you know, high-fiving your team or, you know, just you're celebrating it as if it already happened. And in the walk, you're moving in a certain way and, you know, you're walking faster or slower based on how you feel. And the music and the walk together create these different energies and feelings. And like my philosophy is that the way you feel is your vibration, and that's what you're gonna get more out of your life externally. So after the walk, it's like, all right, I did it. Now I can let go. Like, I want things to happen a certain way, but I know that they're not gonna happen in that, you know, order or in that way. And it might happen 8 years from now, or it might happen right now. I don't know when or how, but just don't be attached to exactly what's gonna happen, or when you're attached to outcomes, your energy becomes affected, right? It's like you want a certain business deal to happen and you're like, oh, this person needs to introduce me to that guy and that guy needs to like me and then invest in the company. And it's like, well, if the first thing doesn't happen the way you expect it to, are you— what are you gonna feel? Fear. You're gonna feel lack. You're gonna feel like disappointment, but that affects your energy and you're gonna attract more fear, disappointment, uh, lack into your life. So I think our philosophies tie in very closely, which is really cool. I like that.

Yeah.

Which is like, work on your energy and let life happen the way it's supposed to. And I think the first time we spoke, you said, oh, it's all going to happen the way it's supposed to anyway.

Yeah.

I was like, I know I'm gonna like this guy.

Yeah. Yeah, it's the truth, right? And that goes back to that stoicism, right? And stoicism in its most simplistic terms is like Okay, what can you control and what can you not control? Well, only focus— it would only make reason— it's only reasonable to focus on things you can control, right? Because as soon as you start thinking on the things that are out of your control, you've already identified them as out of your control. That is a complete waste of time, right, and energy, right? So just identify things that are in your control and do the best that you possibly can with those things. Yeah, you know, and it's very simple. But where did you learn that practice? Who taught you, or you just self-developed it over time?

It was a combination of like— so I've been to a bunch of Tony Robbins events where you change your state, your energy, and like my life changed a lot after learning all that stuff in all different areas. And you know, I've been to a handful of meditation retreats and plant medicine journeys. And so it's all kind of— it used to be I just try to walk and just feel a certain way, and then It was like, all right, well, first I want to feel grateful, then I want to feel strong. And then like I was trying to get something done and I was like, I'm going to walk like it happened. And it kind of just put it together and it's just developed over time.

Yeah.

But it's a great, it's like a, that's my habit that I know. Like I must do. And it goes back to what we were talking about earlier, which is re-remembering the truth or realigning with your philosophy and not just jumping into a day and reacting to the day. It's like if you could start by like, okay, what is, what is this life about? Like, who am I? Who do I want to show up as? And you can do that right in the morning before you start your day. Your actions are going to be totally different. Your energy is going to be totally different.

Absolutely.

So I think a practice is an amazing thing.

Yeah.

Talk a little bit about, um, your movement practice and you know, how, how you came up with it and kind of what people can get from doing the type of stuff that you that you teach.

Yeah, and, and back to what you're saying, I think that the movement kind of thing that you're doing is almost very similar to like the movement stuff I practice in a way, because, because the goal is the same. Like if you look at my movement practice, you're, you're going to say, oh, that's qigong. And, and from a category standpoint, it absolutely is. Qigong means just cultivating energy. And is like an— in my understanding, it's like a very over-encompassing kind of, uh, just category of like movement and cultivating energy. So in, in terms of that, yeah, it's absolutely qigong. Now where I've kind of spun it into my own system is by making the alterations to the movement that best work for where I hold my tension and implementing a breathwork component into the system that I find to be the most beneficial. So essentially this is like my modernization athletic twist on qigong, I guess you could say. So I've learned, I've been on, I've been like a student of the mind-body connection and warming your body up in the most efficient, effective way for a very long time. Since I was in high school, through high school athletics, all through college playing football, then became a fitness model again in the fitness world, and then just continued that journey of self-discovery after that and brought us to where we are today. Yeah. So I have a lot of information that I've acquired over the years from training with different people. Yeah. Like I had, I had a breathwork guru who kind of taught me, my brother, my sisters, and the local, you know, people in my neighborhood back, back when I was a teenager. And I remember he would have me run with like a towel in my mouth just to teach me about nasal breathing. Wow. And, and how important that ujjayi breath is. And he was like a pranayama guy, again, a guy who's, who's far and away out there for most people. He was just so far ahead of his time, right? And, and I still work with him today. Eddie Harold's his name. He runs like breathwork stuff for like big corporations and stuff. But, but he taught me so much back then that I've always implemented those kind of foundational aspects into everything in life. Yeah, yeah. And I'm super grateful for him, and I've had many others as well. So, um, I, I basically had take these movements that I've learned and implemented that breathwork into those, into the whole system. Yeah. And that's what created kind of what I call the Mind Body Energy movement. It obviously took off on social media. People kind of take the routine, make it their own. Which I inspire everyone to do. I think what's unique about my system too is people ask, hey, am I doing this right or wrong? And I always ask, I say, how do you feel? They say, oh, I feel great. So you answer your own question. So why would I ever tell you you do something wrong if you do it, you were inspired by me or saw something I did, and you feel great from it? The only time I intervene with somebody doing the movement is if I see something that could cause them injury or do more harm than good. So that's kind of how it is. I think what's great about the system, you need no equipment. It's just something you can see, learn very easily. I've been working on an app for the last 3 months that I'll eventually release in the beginning of January. So you'll be able to learn the foundation of the movements. You'll be able to flow with me. If you want to dive deeper, you can dive deeper. And then obviously the mindset thing. There's a 52-week mindset program, so to help people set their mind, get on the right frequency, and then understand the movements and, and make the most out of life.

Yeah, you know, how does that movement practice tie into your, your fitness, uh, part of your life?

Yeah, so to answer that question, it's all about the consistency, right? So, so that routine that I've done, I've— I'll do every single day. Like, that's my non-negotiable. That's how I set my frequency for the day. Yeah, but it's also an amazing activation, and it's an activation more than a workout. Like, sure, you can make it a workout, but it's really an activation, almost like Tony Robbins would probably call it, like a priming or something. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, so it's non-negotiable. It's done every single day. And then from there, I obviously have a workout routine and, and, and diet and nutrition and all that if you wanted to touch on that.

But I, I actually—

that's my must.

Okay. I do want to touch on that because, um, you know, I'm 35. You're a little bit older than me.

Yeah.

You're in great shape. Um, most people in their 30s, 40s, 50s, they start to, you know, their health starts to deteriorate for many different reasons. Um, and there's also, you know, we live in a giant echo chamber of information. So, you know, one person says something and then everyone repeats it on social media. And then someone says something that's completely opposite and then everyone repeats it and you don't really know what to listen to and what to follow. And I think obviously there's, you know, everyone's different, but I like to learn from people that are a bit older than me that are in amazing shape themselves because the proof is in the pudding. So I'd love to learn a little bit about like your fitness regimen, diet, supplementation, things like that. Anything that's, you know, been great for you that you want to share?

Yeah, so I guess we'll start with the, with the workout philosophy. So I like to focus on the nervous system. Okay, so the signals that your mind is going to send to your body to react. We could break it down like I try to break everything down into its most simplistic terms. Yeah, so let's just define the best, most optimal athlete. So in my opinion, the person who is the most optimal athlete is the one who has the ability to contract and relax their muscles and control their mind in any environment.

Yep.

So again, it's the mind-body connection. So the one who has the ability to contract and relax in any environment. So yeah, look at football, for example. Like, those guys are stud athletes, of course, but not everybody can handle every different environment, right? You know, so you put, you put different quarterbacks or whatever in certain situations, they don't— they just, they can't handle the heat or whatever. They fail, they lose a game they should have won, whatever. The season's over, it is what it is. So the way I break that down into my training is I, for whatever reason, has always been drawn to like training my nervous system.

Yep.

More than say my muscles.

Right.

Now for my example, I kind of have a good strong base that I've had and been able to maintain for a long time.

Yeah.

You know, more or less, I've been 6 foot, 210, 220 pounds since I was like 15, 16 years old. So it's a long time, right? Granted, other than college, I was up 240s, you know, playing football. But other than that, I've been in that 210 to 220 range, right? And so I have that strong foundational base. I don't need to work about— worry about strength training.

Right.

I'm about like functional movement and not so much longevity. Sure, a little bit of a longevity component, but more about like just optimization. Yeah. Like how to be the most capable human being for whatever I'm training at. Right. For example, you, you're, you're, you love golf. Yeah. You know, so why wouldn't your training be directly transferable to the skill of golf if that's your focus?

Right.

And then obviously you want to be able to play and throw your kids around until you're, until you're 100, you know. So, so there has to be a component of like longevity and, and sustainability in your workout. But, but that's what I focus on. I focus on training my nervous system, and I don't need to go into all the details of that because that can be a whole nother conversation. But, but it's like just more isometric stuff, not your conventional lifting and linear movements, a lot more dynamic jumping sprinting, carrying, throwing.

If you could sum up training your nervous system, you know, to be able to contract or relax, are— is it like, um, what types of movements? Just give a few examples just so people listening understand what you're talking about. Like, yeah, how do you train your nervous system without going down the whole rabbit hole of details?

Yeah, so, so I utilize my movement practice mainly as like my mind-body connection. I'm, I'm creating, maximizing the springs in my ankles, knees, hips, understanding how my anatomy works so that those messages can fire in the most optimal way. So first and foremost, it's that, it's the movements. That's why we start with the lymphatic shakes. You get your body shaking, understand like what's occurring, relax, get out of your own way. Yeah. But in terms of like actually like working out, I would say it's a lot of like isometric holds into the point where like your body starts to like lose control in a way. Yeah, because there's so much signaling going on.

I mean, like standing like a horse stance for a really long time.

Exactly.

Do you follow Wim Hof?

Yeah. Yeah.

You know, he was like, he held the horse stance for like an hour in the cold.

Yeah, 3 hours.

He had 3 hours.

He had that. He had the world record for a while. Yeah. Wow. It's since been, been broken. But, but again, that's a perfect example, right? Because Wim Hof, you look at him, he does not look like the epitome of health. No. He likely— maybe he never even had abdominal muscles that were visible at any time in his life. Yeah, but you put him in, in the environment of like the mind-body connection gets put to the test and he'll out-hold everybody.

I'll give you an example of that also. Um, I had the, the privilege of spending time with Richard Branson. He was 73. It was last year.

Okay.

Um, we went on a bike ride. and he does— he's been doing this bike ride for like 40 years or something. It was my first time doing it. Um, I was 34, peak of my fitness, and we went on this bike ride, and this guy— I had to get off the bike probably no less than 20 times to like go up these hills and then went all the way back down and then going back up, like to a point where my quad— I've never had cramps in my quads had them in my hamstrings, my calves, but my quads have never had cramps before. My quads were cramping to a point where I couldn't bend my legs. This guy didn't get off the bike one time, smoked me. If you look at his body, I mean, he's 73 years old. Yeah, doesn't look like the epitome of, you know, the peak male fitness. Yeah, but I think it was the mind-body connection that he'd built over so many years of doing that same Bike Loop. Yeah, that someone— I'm in much better shape than him, but he was able to smoke me in that bike race.

Yeah, he probably just has such an awareness and a healthy connection of his mind-body connection, that awareness.

How much do you think people can go further from a mind-body connection than just physically? Meaning like, how much more do you think people have in their tank if they had a better mind-body connection?

Oh my god, I think it's like almost everything. Like 80% more. Yeah, likely.

That's crazy.

I mean, that's just my belief. Well, my favorite quote of all time is, the one thing I know for sure is I know nothing for sure, right? So I don't know shit, but I know what's true for me. Yeah, you know, so, so, you know, take it for what it's worth.

For me, like, there's days, you know, I like to— I actually hate to run, but I run regularly. There's days where, like, after 2 miles I'm toast, and then I've had You know, one time I went out for a 3-mile run, I ended up doing 5, and then I was like, you know, I'm gonna do 7. Then I was so close to 10, I just did 10. Yeah, but like my body and my physical environment didn't change at all. It was just like something about that day. My— what I was doing is every time my mind was saying like anything, I was just— I wasn't getting frustrated with my mind and saying like, shut up, but keep going. It was more like a gentle, like, oh, don't need that right now. Let me just stay in the zone, stay focused. I think that, like, that for me, that was like, like an awakening. I was like, wow, I just had the most incredible mind-body connection I've ever had before.

Mm-hmm. And you, I'm sure you had that runner's high where you almost got into a flow state.

Flow state.

Yeah, exactly. So that's what the movements— the movements are a tool. Yeah, movements don't really matter, right? That's what people don't get. They think these movements are like this, this like amazing super hack or whatever. It's like, no, the rhythmic breathing, the pattern, the way that you're able to connect your mind and body and and heighten your awareness of your mind-body connection is where the magic is. And then you take that new skill set, utilizing the movement as a tool, to just transfer that into your everyday life. Like we talked about earlier, or maybe I talked about this with somebody else, it's like the first thing that it says on my Instagram is athlete, not exerciser. Because like, who gives a shit about exercising? You're only exercising for hopefully some kind of goal. Right. You know, hopefully you have some kind of reason to exercise, right? Even if it's just to tell yourself that you did it, right? Whatever. But in a more reasonable way, like, like, I think it's so very few people enjoy running, right? They run because they want to lose weight or they run because they put some kind of date on, on their calendar that they have to run a marathon or whatever. So they don't want to embarrass themselves. Right, but, but the actual act of running is not what they love, right? You know what I mean? Yeah, so, so I'm all about just teaching people the skill set of heightening your mind-body connection so you can optimize your life.

I love that. And when it comes to like running, for example, like I have some friends I've grown up with that they're maybe they're trying to start a business and they're struggling and their energies, you know, and they're like, Jared, what should I do? How can I make more money? But it's never like Oh, let me look at your business and we're going to change things. It's like, no, we have to shift your energy. And like, one thing I, I love to do when I'm in a low energy state is go out for a run. And it's because my mind doesn't want to do it, but I force myself to do it. And, and then it's like you kind of take, take back the steering wheel. It's like, okay, in the, in the situation where I could sit down and scroll on my phone or I could choose not to. The version of me that just went for that run and took back control is going to be much more likely to make the right decision in other areas of life.

Yeah, yeah, that makes perfect sense. And, and now if you, if you start practicing the movement stuff, I, I've come to more recent, like, understanding. I think the movements can replace running or give people an opportunity to, like, get that same energy boost. Yeah, with much less impact on their body. Yeah, you know, I, I don't run much anymore. I went through my phases of running long distance and all that, but, but whatever, uh, no cartilage left in your ankles and all that will just kind of slow you down to a certain degree. But, but I still want to get that like runner's high, right? And that's what you're able to do in the movements, just without all the impact. Yeah, just kind of create that rhythmic breathing, and then you can get like the same feeling of euphoria or self-fulfillment in a way and you're done. Yeah. Without, without having to do some of the more damage on your body. Yeah. Through impact on hard surfaces. Because think about it, how I do it all the time because I live in Miami Beach. So I'll ride my bike in the morning every morning and I see people running, right? It's, it's very rare that I see somebody running with a smile, enjoying themselves, right? Running with their hips, not with their legs, you know, very, very like in full control of their breathing pattern as well. Right. It's very rare, right? 90% of the people I see look pissed off, miserable. Yeah, in pain. Yeah, like one of those things.

Sure.

Yeah, because they're running just the run, right? You know what I mean? Yeah, they're not, they're not, they're not true runners. Likely they never even learned how to run, right? You know, yeah, like, like I don't understand why people don't teach people how to breathe before they teach them how to move, right? You know, it's like they do kind of the opposite in a way. Well, or never teach them.

Breathing is one of the only things you can really control.

Yeah, breath is everything, right? Yeah, the study of pneuma in Greek, whatever, we won't go there, but just the study of breathing. Life is just a collection of breaths, right? So as soon as you stop breathing, you stop existing here in this dimension. That's the end of what we know as life. Yeah, is when you stop breathing, right? Therefore, life is just a collection of breaths. Yeah.

That's so interesting to think about it that way.

Yeah, but, but we take it for such granted, right? You know? Yeah.

If you really think about it, if you're really present and aware, like, breathing could feel really good.

Oh, absolutely.

When you're stressed and, you know, reactive, like, breathing becomes really shallow and anxiety builds up, and it's like you can change the way you feel by taking 3 minutes of just intentionally breathing.

I think you can solve almost everything with, with conscious awareness of breathing.

Yeah, anyone listening right now should pause and take 3 minutes of just nice focused, you know, slow breaths.

Yeah, and just understand— so, so this is another beautiful like kind of way to look at it. We coexist with nature in a way. So the plants and the trees, they work, I believe, on like the opposite system as us. So as we inhale oxygen, exhale carbon dioxide. They do the opposite. They inhale the carbon dioxide and exhale the oxygen. So, so we only exist with them. So if you think about it, I always have this like visualization sometimes when I meditate or do breathing practices. Like, it's just like, it just works in such synchronicity. Yeah, but, but again, we just take it for granted.

Yeah, you're breathing in everything from the outside and then You're not just sucking in some air, like you're, you're moving with, with everything around you.

Yeah, and we put all these crazy words on it, you know, and call things oxygen and the gases and all this kind of stuff. Yeah, like think about what it is. Like, aren't we on a planet flying through outer space right now? Yeah, like spinning uncontrollably in a way. But, but, but yet you and I are just sitting here having a conversation with like, you know, so, so I just think people forget about, about like what what is currently going on, right? So how could you ever think this isn't like an absolute gift, right? Like, like, in this time that we have is like so precious. Yeah.

Imagine if everyone realized that all the time, how different our world would be.

It would be a beautiful place. And don't get me wrong, it already is a beautiful place. You know, 1% of, maybe even less, is bad and evil, you know, here in this world.

Right.

It's just like we're so ingrained and kind of manipulated in a way because the news and the media, all that, they, they capitalize on certain things, right? And they want to push that agenda. Yeah.

You know, which is why practices like what you share are so important.

Yeah, absolutely. And, and again, you, you, we, we touched on plant medicine, and plant medicine is a beautiful thing and has, has had a lot of effects in my life as well. But again, it's back to being like present. Like all that plant medicine does, it allows you to kind of do something for yourself, right?

In a way, have a reference point to what's possible.

Exactly. It doesn't do any of the work, right? Just like, just like anything, you know, you have to do the own work because it's just your thoughts in your head that determine whether you're happy or sad or mad or upset or whatever. It's just your thoughts, right? Which then that those thoughts turn into your emotions, how you feel. You know, it's all related.

But people try to think their way out of the state that they're in, but you can't really think your way out of a state. You have to— it starts with your body, starts with your movement, starts with your breath.

And that's why you can just always go back to gratitude, man.

Yeah, if you just—

if you're upset and your life's horrible and, and bad things that happen in your life, just focus on the things that are good, right? Focus on the things that you're grateful for, because you're never going to have it worse. You're never going to be the— your, your life is never going to be the worst in the entire world. Yeah, it's not humanly possible, right?

There's always worse shit out there.

Yeah, if even if we're talking your audience is American and US, there's billions of people that have it worse than you, right? Just because they don't have the opportunity to be here in this country, right? You know what I mean? Yeah, so you could just focus. Hey, say at least I'm in America.

Yeah, and there's also tons of things that to be grateful for no matter what your circumstances. And if we go back to the original philosophy of your energy creates the life around you, yeah, then logically it doesn't make sense to focus on the things that make you feel worse. Yeah, logically, according to that philosophy, you should focus on the things you feel grateful for because that gratitude is gonna bring more things into your life to then feel grateful for, and it's an absolute flywheel effect.

Absolutely. But if you fall down that slippery slope of, you know, worrying about the future or regretting the past. You're no longer in the present. So then what happens? Anxiety one way, depression the other way.

And people need to start a movement practice to get back into that flow every day.

But again, it's all in your thoughts. Yeah. And that's what's beautiful about the movement practice. It helps you— like, the benefits— I have thousands upon thousands of reviews and, and messages from people now of the benefits that they have reached out and told me about. Yeah, that was never the intention, right? But, but now I have this data set of like what actually, how it is helping people. Yeah. And, and a lot of them, a lot of them are just like, hey, my mindset, like, like I just feel like more grateful to be alive.

Yeah.

Because at the end of the day, movement is medicine. Nobody owns movement. Like, yeah, it's, it's, it's, if you have the opportunity to be able to move your body and control your thoughts, like, like you have so much be grateful for. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And life becomes an experience that can be fun because you can do whatever you want in life. The only real prison is your own mind that keeps you trapped.

Yeah, absolutely.

Anything to break free from that is something that people should focus on. Can you talk a little bit more about the movement practice itself and, you know, kind of how long it takes and just like walk through like what a typical session would be for someone? I know we did a few minutes in my office Yeah, just, just for people listening.

Yeah, so, so once you set your mind, you put your intention out there. Let's just say we were to start the movement practice. The original one that I shared was like about 10 minutes. It was like 7 movements and then 9 movements shortly after. So let's just say it's 7 to 9 minutes plus then the tapping series, which is just lymphatic tapping. You do a tapping series throughout your body. So we'll, we'll keep that that section separate. So more or less 10 minutes, okay, of movement.

Anyone has 10 minutes.

If you don't have 10 minutes for yourself, you don't, you don't really have much of a life, right? Your life can't be encompassed that much. It doesn't matter if you're the, you know, Elon Musk of the world. Maybe he doesn't have 10 minutes, who knows what he's doing.

Everyone's got 10 minutes.

He needs 10 minutes to take care of his health. But anyway, his mind is wherever it is. So I'll just walk you through the ones that were like the original ones that kind of blew up on social media. The app will have many more. There's many more. I make new ones all the time based on like how my mind-body connection kind of has evolved and gone different ways. So anyway, I always start with lymphatic shaking. So you just shake your body, again, maximizing the springs in your ankles, knees, and hips. But in the first phase, it's all about relaxing. Just relaxation. Identify where you hold your tension and just kind of surrender to the practice. Kind of be as present as possible. Try to clear your mind. Don't let your mind wander like, what's next? What do I have to eat? Am I hungry? Am I not? Just, just, just move your body and understand like what's occurring. You're just, you're just allowing the springs in your natural anatomy to push up against gravity. Gravity's pulling you back down. So once you can progress from there, then you would move into the body waves, which is like a spinal alignment, kind of again pulling energy from beneath your feet up through your fingertips. Then we'd go into the arm swings, which again, based on your— where you hold your tension, there's slight alterations of ways that you can do it.

Mm-hmm.

And then the trunk twist, which we did. I've been playing around with that elevator component. Just to open up my personal like tightness and tension in my hips more. And I've really been liking that one. Yeah. Yeah. And then you'd progress into the dead arms where you're just— it's like a reset. Then you'd go into the golf swings, which we didn't do, which is— which would be a great one for you to do because you're basically just mimicking— it's like an alteration of the Zen swing. Zen swing is like a qigong movement.

Yeah.

But I turned it into more of a golf swing just because I wanted a more dynamic component to it. Yeah. And I like I'm all about the breathwork component. So I like having like an impact somewhere in the movement that it's very easy for you to synchronize your breathwork with. Yeah. And then from the golf swings, we go into the marches, which is just like a standing march. And then the ballet squats, which is again another movement. You just duck your feet out slightly. But again, it's maximizing the springs in your ankles, knees, and hips. And then I finish with the horse stance. Yeah, which obviously is an ancient movement. Um, Mabu, I think, is what it was known for from in, in Chinese or, or whatever, somewhere in Asia. And, and that one is like the ultimate mind-body connection test. Yeah, because what occurs, and when you do the horse stance, right, when you put yourself in a horse stance, it's a very clear signaling of your body sending signals to your mind of, yo, This is not comfortable. We don't like this, right? Panic, alarm, stand up. And then guess what? All those signals go to your mind, right? So now your body is connecting to your mind, and now you have the opportunity to take that information and say, yeah, you're right, body, let me stand up and get out and surrender and let me get out of the position, right? Or you could tell yourself, no, that's not useful information. Yeah, that's just like weakness in a way, right? That those alarms and that signaling is not useful information, right? Therefore, you go to your breath and you breathe in that area, and then what happens? It subsides. It goes away. Yeah. Okay, so that's a very clear example. I like incorporating the horse stance because it's, it's like a test for the whole practice. Yeah. And, and as we talked about Wim Hof holding it for 3 hours, like, how could he do it, right? You know, well, his mind-body connection is in such harmony. Yeah, he's so so far and away aware of everything about that messaging, and he's at peace with it because he took that message, that signaling, and reframed it as, hey, that's not useful information.

That, that's, that's same part of him that he's mastered the mind-body connection. Did you see that he did that experiment where they injected him with, um, endotoxins? Yeah, what's that? Staph— is it staph infection, uh-huh, or something, and hooked him up to monitors. He was in a hospital, and his body fought off the bacteria, whatever it was. I don't remember exactly what it was. I thought it was staph infection, but he fought it off just through his mind-body connection.

Yeah. And, and then, so that was crazy in itself, right? But then again, what did he do? He took it a step further and had like 10 participants come in and taught them the breathwork thing and everyone was able to—

oh wait, he did? I didn't even know about that one.

Yeah.

Wow.

Yeah, because again, everybody looked at him and kind of, you know how the society works, is like everybody wants to like, you know, disprove, right? Oh, you're just special because it's you, it's your Wim Hof. Yeah. No, it's not. It's a system, you know. So he taught it to the students or whatever, and I don't even think they were like his diehard students. Yeah, I think they were just like participants. Yeah, but again, he's a beautiful example of, you know, somebody who has just kind of disproved all this science, we say. Yeah, you know, because he knows the truth. Yeah, you know, and his story is amazing, right? Like, yeah, like he found solace in the cold. His wife committed suicide, left him with his kids, like, for him to figure out life on his own. It's funny you bring up Wim Hof because I just just was talking to his team because he's coming in March.

Oh wow.

And I'm going to go meet them in, in Miami, um, for, for that event. But, uh, if you're free, you should come down for it. But, but yeah, I mean, again, he's the ultimate, you know, current day mind-body guy.

I mean, he, he suffered quite possibly the worst pain imaginable.

Yeah.

His wife jumped off a building.

Yep. And he had the love of his life too.

The love of his life. And he had— what was it, 2 or 3 little kids?

I think he has 4 or 5.

Yeah, he had a bunch of young children.

Yeah.

And his wife committed suicide. Like, that pain is unbearable, unimaginable. But he found the strength through his mind-body connection to overcome that pain. And, you know, and now he's sharing these things with people, which is an amazing thing. But I just I couldn't even— I couldn't even— I don't think anyone can fathom the pain that he went through.

Yeah, and look at all the good that he's done now. Yeah, and I believe that my mind-body energy movement is, is kind of similar because his breathing is not like something he created, right?

Right.

It's like he took it from ancient practice, it, it, it helped him heal himself, which that's the definition of like a shaman, I think, or is like somebody who was sick or, or dying or whatever, then healed themselves and now teaches others to heal themselves, you know, in a way. So, uh, that's essentially what he's done. I'm kind of doing a very similar thing where I'm teaching— taking ancient movement, combining it with ancient breathwork, yeah, and just kind of broadcasting it, yeah, to the world to just, hey, just try it. Yeah, doesn't have anything to do with me. It's just movement is medicine, right? That's all I'm trying to get across. Right. And, and, and hey, that's, that's what it's kind of evolved into. And I think it will continue to evolve, but, but I'm excited to meet Wim and, and, and yeah, we'll see.

I think like you're on like the, the, the organic kind of following growth that you've, you know, gotten in such a short period of time is like validation that you're, you know, on a genuine path and the fact that it's not an ego-driven this is my practice, you know, I created it. It's— I mean, nobody created breathwork. We all have access to the same stuff. Like, yeah, I think that that is an indication that what you're doing is going to turn and continue to turn into a movement. Yeah, the fact that it's, it's taken the form it's taken in such a short period of time.

Yeah, and that, and that's the goal. So the analogy that I kind of think of sometimes when— because obviously there's thousands upon thousands of comments on some of those things, and you'll get a lot in the beginning, and this It's funny because I've done the movements with people who practice tai chi and qigong and whatever, and the ones that actually practice are like, yo, this ain't tai chi or qigong, you know, like you're doing everything wrong. Yeah, yeah. It's like, all right, that's good, good confirmation or whatever. And the people that comment on there be like, oh, you're just doing tai chi, or whatever.

Yeah.

And you look at it and you're like, have you done tai chi? And they're like, no, but, but I know that's just tai chi. Yeah, okay. So the analogy that I kind of kind of put is like, if we were to work out, right? I say, yo, I, I, let's do, let's do a routine that I like to do. Yeah. And you're like, all right, Mike, cool, you know, what are we going to do? I say, all right, we're going to do push-ups and we're going to do jump jacks, then we're going to do split lunges, then we're going to do some pull-ups. Yeah. You say, all right, cool, like, what's this routine? You say, this is my routine, this is the routine that I do all the time. Yeah. Say, all right, cool, let's do it. You're not going to have people in the comments saying, yo, Why don't you give credit to the guy who created the push-up?

Yeah.

Yo, you got to thank the guy who did the split squat, right? Yo, you gotta, you gotta do the guy who created the pull-up. You gotta say thank you, right? But God forbid I do some like Asian-type inspired movements. Yeah. And the whole world is up in arms saying like, oh, you got to give credit to the, to the thing.

I'm like, well, who does that person give credit to? I'm sure they didn't create it.

I mean, and not to mention, it's like, it's like a new world that we're in, right? Because 100 years ago, you didn't know what they were doing in Asia, right, or India, or, or, or, or anywhere else in the world unless you physically went there, traveled, or you got your hands on some type of like manual or, or book to like learn what was going on, right? It's very new that we can log on to YouTube and you can type in Shaolin martial arts and understand exactly what occurs in, in the Shaolin Temple people.

Yeah.

And how they train. Yeah. You know, so that's all like new information.

Yeah.

So, so anyway, I tell everybody, I said nobody owns movement. You know, the only one who owns movement is the one who's moving, is kind of what I said.

That's a good one.

Yeah, that's so true. So, so, so make it your own. If you're inspired to try it, check it out, you know. Yeah. And that's it, dude.

Do you, um, do the cold exposure?

Yeah, every morning. Yeah, yeah.

The, uh, a cold plunge type Yeah, I have a cold plunge.

I have an ice barrel. Currently I have an ice barrel. I've had so many different ones. I'm always exploring different ones every morning. Every morning. Yeah, I keep it— it stays— I keep it at 40, but for whatever reason it's always at like 42, 43. Yeah, you know, depending on for whatever reason. And I just do 3 minutes and then I explore different like breathwork meditations within that 3 minutes. Lately I've been doing like a humming. Yeah, yeah, to activate the vagus nerve. I've been learning about all that stuff.

Yeah.

Yeah, when I—

in my— well, in all— pretty much all my plant medicine journeys, there's like a ton of humming, and I don't really know where it comes from, but it feels so good. Yeah, there's more to that than, you know, people say it's all woo-woo, but—

but then again, we go back to the sounds and vibrations, right? Humming creates a certain vibration in your body, right? It's like we could talk about, uh, you know, the— my breathwork that I incorporate into the movements is very similar, which I just kind of realized when I was with my Australian buddy just this past week. He's like, wait a second, so you're focused on the exhale, but you're going at such an intense pace that you're kind of inhaling at the same time. Yeah. So, and then I started looking at the didgeridoo. He's like, hey, you got to learn about the didgeridoo. Didgeridoo is that, that ancient Aborigine kind of thing. Yeah, whatever. So the way that you use the didgeridoo is you have to inhale and exhale at the same time. So the best guys can do like 10 minutes or or so on that thing. Yeah, inhale and exhale at the same time. So it's almost like— this is more recent, I've been learning about it— but when you create that rhythmic breathing practice, is essentially what you're doing. You're almost inhaling and exhaling at almost simultaneously. Yeah, like when you increase and progress in the practice to, to a very more intense level.

Yeah, that's so— so you're doing cold exposure, is it first thing in the morning?

First thing in the morning. Well, I mean, I wake up before I journal, I make my, you know, morning, like, whatever cocktails. Or lately I got back into that, like, Bulletproof coffee.

Yeah, what's your, like, supplement morning?

Yeah, I take an electrolyte supplement with, with obviously filtered water, um, coffee. I'll do the espresso. Lately I've been playing around with, like, the butter, coconut oil, and a little maple syrup. Yeah, and that's like my first go-to. I'll drink 32 ounces of water. And then I go to my journal. I sit with my journal. I have this, uh, is it called sadhu? Sadhu board now, the nail beds. Oh, so I stand on the nail beds. This has just only been like 2 weeks, but this company, uh, Hedgeboard, sent me these 2 hedgeboards, so I stand on them. Yeah, that thing's been awesome.

Really?

Yeah, if you've never done that, you should try that.

I've laid on the shakti mats before, like if I have those or something, and it's like actually helped release.

Yeah, so if you think about, uh, think about think— just think about how important your feet are, right? So on a daily basis, the only thing really that's connected to earth and grounded would be your feet. Yeah. But yet we always have shoes or sandals or socks or whatever, or on synthetic surfaces. So imagine just being like those, those, those, uh, the palms of your feet are very connected, right? You know, there's a lot going on down there. So I don't really know too much of like what actually is occurring. I know it's like a very ancient I think Indian ritual to lie on like the bed of nails. Yeah, but I've been standing on these every morning for like 3 to 5 minutes.

Really?

Yeah. While you're journaling or a little bit while I'm journaling, but, uh, but more so like right in between.

Yeah. You know, after I journal for a minute and then you're, and then you're right into the cold plunge.

Then I'm right in the cold 3 minutes by like 5, 5 o'clock. Yeah. Yeah.

Wow. That's the hardest time to do the cold plunge for me is like first thing in the morning.

Oh, to me it's beautiful. The stars are still out, you know. My cold plunge is outside, so it's like sometimes, yeah, it sucks when, when, God forbid, there's a cold front in Miami and it's like 45°. But I'm from Jersey anyway, so it's—

Do you have a sauna in your—

I do, right next to it.

And you're not going in the sauna first? You're going right in the cold plunge?

Nah, I don't, I don't do the sauna. I rarely— this sauna is like a social thing. If people come over and they want to do it, I go to a gym that has a sauna, so after I work out, I'll hop in there But again, it's just more for like a social thing. Yeah, yeah, if I have the time, I do it.

Any other supplements or, um, you know, peptides or like any kind of new things you've been doing that you like?

Yeah, I'm always trying to learn about peptides. I think peptides will have a huge role in the future of preventative healthcare, is my opinion. Um, and I'm a big advocate of getting your blood work done, so I've got my blood work done like I don't know, uh, for like the last 3 years. Yeah. And I'm all about like optimizing that.

Yeah.

But because I still want to have kids, I'm 39 years old, I've never been inclined to take anything. Yeah. As far as like hormone replacement or even peptides. Yeah. I'm just not there yet.

Yeah.

In, in my life. So if we were talking about like actual levels, my levels of like testosterone, everybody knows, is like was around like 400 or 500, and then I switched up my diet big time and started incorporating a lot more like cholesterol.

Really?

And yeah, and now my— now my testosterone's like— I actually just, just did a post with it. If you comment, I send all my blood work out. I'm completely like transparent on everything, and now I'm at like 795. Wow. Yeah, it's absolutely from diet change.

Wow.

Because my cholesterol went up a ton too.

But dude, my— so when I was living in Texas and I was training all the time and I was I was like really on it. My testosterone was really high. It was in like the 900s. Uh-huh. And then recently it was like 750, and I didn't know why. I don't know why.

Do you feel different? Do you feel that or not really?

Not really.

Okay.

I mean, I've definitely not been training as much as I did when I was in Texas. I had, you know, no kids, and then we had a baby. Now I got two kids, and we had, you know, we had a gym in the garage, and I had a trainer three days a week, and it was like you know, nature trail behind the house. It was like all about fitness and personal development. Now, two kids, you know, the gym is, you know, that's around the block. I gotta walk like half a mile to get to it, so I'm not there as often. But, um, my doc— I've been trying. Do you ever see The Medical Medium online?

No.

He's like—

wait, does he have a mustache, guy?

He's got like a little, uh, I think like a bun, like a ponytail, and like I don't know, he's like a— he's really famous.

Okay.

Um, but he's all about lemon water first thing in the morning, 15 minutes later celery juice, and then 15 minutes later a detox smoothie. That's 2 bananas, a cup of blueberries, cilantro, spirulina, wheatgrass powder, and some like sea moss.

Okay.

With some orange juice. Oh, sounds expensive. It's a I guess, I don't know. This is all relative, but it's like a heavy metal detox smoothie. And I've been doing that for the last 2 weeks. I feel amazing.

So did you get your heavy metals tested prior?

Yeah, but I've also been doing chelation, which also pulls heavy metals out of your system.

Okay.

So I don't know if it's because of the heavy metal detoxification I feel great or because I'm getting a ton of nutrients from the stuff in the smoothie, but my digestion's gotten way better.

Nice.

I kind of have more like clear, smooth energy through the day. But I don't know if my testosterone is like pumping from that kind of diet.

Yeah, yeah, I wouldn't know. I mean, the one thing that I try to stay in a time-restricted feeding window. Yeah. Or, you know, so I don't like to consume everything. So, so I am kind of like hesitant to put anything in my body that early in the morning.

Yeah.

Like the butter and the coffee, that is like new, but I feel like I still get in that state of autophagy.

Yeah.

After like that 14, 15-hour window fasted. Yeah, I stop eating at 8 o'clock at night. Yeah, I don't eat until like 2 or 3 the next day, right? And even that coffee and coconut oil, I— the studies and scientists can say whatever they want. I still feel great. You know, I'm not testing my pee with the keto strips and all that. I'm just not that into it. Yeah, I'm just going off of how I feel. Yeah, and I feel good. Yeah, always work out fasted.

Yeah, so the smoothie for me, like if I will— if I, you know, eat a bunch of eggs and stuff for protein in the morning versus this smoothie first thing in the morning, it doesn't feel like I ate. It just kind of give— I don't know, maybe it's something I'll do for another few weeks and then not do anymore, but right now I'm liking it a lot.

But again, this, this goes back to the mind-body connection, right? If your mind and body are in harmony, which all it is is an awareness of how you did feel and now how you feel. Yeah. And like, as long as you continue to heighten that awareness, like you can kind of critique and manipulate like what makes you feel the best, right?

Which is, which is the name of the game, which where awareness comes into play. And the formula for the awareness is the movement practice.

Yeah.

So I think this is a nice way to circle back. People want to learn the movement practice. Where can they find you? We're gonna link everything below, obviously, but yeah, where's the best place for people to find you?

So whatever, on social media, you know, I'm on Facebook and Instagram. Yeah, TikTok. I can't really handle TikTok, but you know, it's just under my name, Mike R. Holland. Yeah, the Mind Body Energy movement. Yeah, like I said, I'll come out with the app. The app will be released like mid-January.

Nice.

That's where you can actually like dive in and flow with me.

Good. You know, that's amazing. I'm looking forward to that.

Yeah, cool.

This was your first podcast.

First podcast.

Yeah. I hope you enjoyed it.

Yeah, it was good, man. Yeah, you got an amazing studio here. Good energy. It's all about energy.

It's cool that I was literally consuming your content and doing the movements less than 2 weeks ago.

Yeah.

And now we're having a conversation and we were doing the movements together in my office just an hour ago. Yeah, funny how things work.

It is.

But appreciate everything. Great conversation, and I hope people enjoy.

Sounds good.

Alrighty.

See ya.