Grant Thomas on Exploring & Integrating the Spiritual Side of Movement
Grant Thomas
Okay, all right.
CJ
What is strength?
Grant Thomas
Strength? To put it incredibly simply, I would say it goes back to connection. from more of a physical practice perspective, are you connected to yourself? If you’re having some external load? Are you connected with that weight? Are you feeling that weight? Same thing when it goes to strengthen other areas of your life? Like, are you connected? To your experience? Are you connected to your loved ones and having strong relationships? Yeah, I’d say that’s really like an overarching thing. And, you know, this is something that came up for me recently, in terms of defining what strength is, for myself in more the training context. And if we simply look at the term strength training, it’s training that makes you stronger. And so like, to put that in a box of like, let’s say, using a barbell, or doing things that only apply to these, this is, let’s say, traditional form of strength training. I would say that’s, that’s limiting your possibilities on how you can be strong, you know, I’m well aware of the 3d movements and loading in these different positions and getting stronger in these different positions. You know, being able to hold ranges of motion, actively, while underload, all those things are feeding into essentially training that makes you stronger. And I also like to look at, let’s say, from the strength training component, like what makes me feel stronger, like right now, in the moment. And so, you know, I can get into some isometric positions and hold those and start to feel into my body and feel more connection going back to that overarching theme of what strength is. And then when I get into something that may be more dynamic, or maybe under load, I’m feeling much stronger. And then going longer term there, let’s say in the week cycle, and the month cycle, the quarter, the year, whatever, then looking at that to like, am I feeling stronger, and this is we were talking about this earlier, the quantitative versus qualitative results. And, and ultimately, like, once you get past the numbers, those are very cool to measure what your strength is, and quantify that. But there’s a there’s a quality to strength that you start to feel into and recognize that maybe a particular way of moving or a particular form of measuring your strength is actually limiting your ability to feel stronger. And yeah, just to wrap this up, you know, I was playing I was playing Frisbee with some friends. And we were talking about football. And going into like, what how people train for football. Because we’re like running routes with the Frisbee, it just kind of came up. And it’s talking about, like offensive linemen and, and how you look at all the stuff that they do for strength training. And then you look at what they’re actually doing on the field. And you can relate to this for sure. They have a chi ball, like they’re legitimately right here in different positions, blocking somebody at the line, in a lunge position, moving their feet, and articulating these bodies, their body in these three dimensional ways to get leverage to be strong, also supple. And so the phrase that I uttered it was, yeah, it’s all effing Tai Chi. Like that’s what it is. And so I look at something like that as a great example of like, okay, yes, we’re training traditionally for strength, but like, how does that apply to what you’re doing in life, and we can put it in the frame of that, that offensive lineman, or we can put that in any sort of frame when we’re talking about strength in multiple facets of life.
CJ
Wow, that’s a beautiful intro, Mr. Grant Thomas. But as you jump into the Janaza podcast, in hearing this, that may be one of the coolest ways to introduce podcasts. I think so grant, welcome on man. We’re definitely going to dive into frames of strength. I think you phrased it really well. Like what frame are you looking at your strength in And for those of you that do not know, Grant, I don’t even know how to define you, I don’t think it’s possible to define anybody really, but put you into a small sphere. So we can expand beyond that. Not a box sphere that surrounds the box, a foot bagger, a flow artist, a student and master of craft, when it comes to all things flow and dance and rhythm. And really, I think it comes down to the joy that’s experienced and expressed, from the movements that you do and the movement that you share. Do you mind speaking about your current frame of strength for yourself? And how you may define that or how you currently look through the lens of strength as you’re practicing your movement? Personally?
Grant Thomas
Yeah, yeah. Well, thanks for the intro on, you know, the, the sphere of me. Yeah, you know, I would say, you know, how I look at strength in my own practice is, its ever changing, like we all go through seasons, but more recently, it’s been going back to the, the connection and the intent with what I’m, or how I’m approaching something, right. So I would say I’m, I gravitate towards like practices, and let’s say skills and expressions that really allow me to feel more connection to myself, with myself. And so over the past, let’s say a year, it those practices have been footbag, or hacky sack. And I would say dance and then a lot of different ground based movement, bodyweight movement. And using more of Sure, a spherical approach to how I move and how I load my body, how I create an intention, or, you know, put my body into tension. And so I look at it from like, Okay, I want to be a really good dancer, I want to be a really good foot bagger, I want to be a great strong mover on the ground, like an animal. What are the practices that allow me to connect deeper with those forms of expression? How can I become stronger in my expression? And that really is what drives my, let’s say, strength, practice, or just my movement practice? Right? So? Yeah, I mean, I’ve found that a lot of times there can be more like this linear path that people will lay out for you. In terms of movement practice and strength training, it’s like you need to get strong in order to do this. And I find that if we look at something from more of a relative lens, or circular, that I can practice, and I can play, and both of those start to give me context for one another, right? So if I am doing some joint mobility, and really activating the nervous system, and creating tension in my hips, I can then go integrate that with planes and footbag are playing some dance and am I feeling stronger? In that practice? You know, back to what I was talking about earlier? Like, does this charge me up right now? And then, okay, then I can use that, as, you know, some feedback of is this something worth continuing to double down on here? And then also, over time, how am I feeling in the week? How am I feeling in the month, and so forth, right there. And so, I find that if we just get stuck in the practice, then, you know, we may be training to get stronger, but what for, and it’s lacking that context. And then if we’re always just playing, then I find that that can be you can, it’s not as sustainable because you’re not using that to drive something that honors your structure and your strength as well right there. So I’ve gone through phases of really training strength to be able to prepare to do stuff, but I find that mindset right there. Do I even get to the play? Do I even get to trying something new? If I’m just always preparing for it, you know that obsession with safety and then from the other side of things, it’s like if I am to empirical and just whimsical and playing all the Time, then I’m never coming back to my practice to really ground and, and find those landmark positions, find, you know, feel and connect the dots of my body. And, you know, feel those spheres right click to go back to that, it’s like, I really liked the idea of feeling the connection of the three dungeons of Tai Chi, and how the spheres in your body are moving. And you can look at this from a spinal perspective, you can look at this from a joint perspective, all that. And it all comes back again to that word of connection.
Unknown Speaker
That’s what strength is, to me. And that’s how I continue to approach that training. And who knows, you know, could be load my body more than one time a week, probably that once or twice a week, nothing too crazy. But I am creating a lot of response from my nervous system, which ultimately is what weight is for is to, to elicit that response in the body right there. So I would say if you’re relying too much on weight, to create that stimulus in your nervous system, just Yes, your nervous system in that way, then? Well, I would say that makes you weak in certain senses as well, where you’re not able to create that intention, create that connection on your own, you’re, you’re relying on something external.
CJ
What When did you walk through this doorway of expression rhythm? Was there a turning point where you went from one mode of training to another mode, or another lens or another purpose, for experience was like a turning point where you said, Alright, I’m going to kind of shift gears here and focus, because I mean, we’ve been following you for a little bit. And it seems like your practices continue to be refined as one does as they practice multiple modes of training with different intentions. Was there a moment in time that you kind of made that shift? And was there others involved in that decision? Or was it kind of just a slow shifting and morphing into something new?
Unknown Speaker
Well, there, I mean, I think it’s definitely that like, it’s been a slow moving thing that has been continuously unraveling beautifully. But there are a few moments along the way that really opened up my eyes. So I’ll try to keep some of this brief because I want to get to the tail end of it, because I think it’s more applicable. But yeah, I was, I was lifting like super heavy. Back in college, I hadn’t really recovered from a few injuries from high school sports, and I weigh about 161 65 right now. And in college at age 19, I was 198 pounds. So I was I looked at par to be super fit. I was going about it from like more of a bodybuilding perspective. And, you know, the bro splits. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, I think you just gotta be really responsible and understand when your ego comes into play. And I wasn’t really able to listen to, you know, pain, and I wasn’t able to listen to discomfort in a way that served me. So I ended up being in chronic pain at age 19. And just like a lot of muscular imbalances around my spine and, and getting into my neck and, and so that was the first time where I was like, oh, I need to do something different. And so that led to me getting into yoga that led me to getting into like some, I was working with this guy, he’s doing like some very, you know, it’s like a yoga hybrid with CrossFit. And so God introduced us some more stuff in that realm. But I never really got too much into CrossFit. And then when I started working a desk job, I noticed a lot of the imbalances and pain and stuff just like got even worse, because they’re just sitting all the time. So that’s around the time when I started to like, look for different modalities. And I say that because I think sometimes we can seek out a oh, I’m going to do this or I’m going to use this tool or this tool and think that that’s going to be what changes the game. But there’s another level to that right. So I was seeking out a lot of different modalities got into kettlebells was doing a lot of ground based movement and and was like oh, I want to get really good at this. I’m really good at this and just kind of trying to maintain my body from breaking down from sitting all day, right. And so and that worked well, like it was, it was good. It was in my early 20s There was another piece in the early 20s, as well of like, you know, I like to, I like dance, but it would only come out when I was like super drunk, or under the influence of something else. And so I was like, there was like, very diminished states of self, where I was actually able to show myself and be seen in that way. And people were like, impressed, or like, what, what is this, like, there’s always something there, right, it was just kind of in the background, and I wasn’t really able to, to bring it out on a consistent basis. In healthy waves, then I became a trainer, and I was like, I’m gonna get in the best shape of my life, I left my desk job and just was like working in a gym and immediately put on like, 10 pounds of muscle and, and like, was doing a bunch of functional training with, you know, kettlebells and, and meses, and battle ropes and like, all this stuff that is just, you know, essentially super trendy in a functional training gym. But without really like a centered basis of like, this is my practice, or this is like how I move. And so I kind of lost myself to the modalities. And
Unknown Speaker
the work was super tough. I wasn’t prioritizing recovery, it was like college, all over again, but just showing up in a different way, right, it was just like, hey, this is the same season where you lose track of self care here. And so I ended up getting like really sick mentally. I, you know, it was really tough for me to show for my job, I was like, super stressed a lot of anxiety. And my body started to hurt in some new ways. I was having some like weird dysfunction with organs and digestion and, and like all this. And so it was like really, that I bring this up, because that was one of the things that was like, Whoa, you need to completely experienced the other side, like the extreme of relaxing. And so that’s what really drove me to explore more with Tai Chi and Chi Gong and, and get more of an energetic understanding of movement. And through this process, you know, I really just focused on loading my body through body weight, and getting an understanding of, of intention and connection that way. And I started to play music, I started to you know, smoke, a little cannabis and some weird spiral stuff started to come out and, and it was just kind of a personal practice in mind to decompress, and, and, and open up my body to new pathways, new lines, and new patterns of movement. And so I started to just play around a lot with that. And I also started to dive into like more than neurology of movement. And I saw a lot of very procedural stuff when it came to the neural makeup of how we move and whatnot. But I also saw from like, the energetic perspective, or the energetic movement practices, I’m like, Oh, this is why this stuff works like the incorporation of the visual system, the the, the vestibular system, and then the proprioceptive system, like I’m seeing that super old lady at the park, do Chi Gong, and I’m like, Oh, she’s working on all those systems. And I was like, I was sold. I was like, oh, okay, yeah, I know, people are like, really surgical with some of the neurology stuff. But I was like, This is enough for me to just really dive into this and look at this stuff from a holistic perspective. And then from there, man, I mean, it’s just then finding the modalities that allow me to feel stronger, right, so I was chasing some stuff with the mace and it ended up giving me like a lot of like, nerve pain in certain areas. And I imagine if I go back to it now, I have a better understanding of how to make that work for me. I feel pretty confident that you could throw anything at me and I’m going to be able to flow with it or I’m going to be able to get something out of it in terms of practice. But I was chasing like the super cool stuff that I saw Leo savage doing right? And I was like, I need to do that and I wasn’t looking at the core. Have that which was like connection to the body connection to the load. And so I was chasing some stuff there. And so I just needed to find that stuff for myself. What? What made me feel stronger? What made me feel more connected and capable? And yeah, so that’s what’s led me to the stuff that I do now. And, and, you know, it’s always evolving. I mean, I will I’m sure we’ll dive into this, but it’s the well, yeah, I just want it like the hacky sack has been like this crazy form of Qigong. For me, it is, you know, it is an actual like, bag of sand or like a sphere that you’re playing with in these different ways. And I, when looking at things from a spiritual perspective, when you start to play with spheres or balls, like in your training practice, like it’s pretty wild, how much of the consistent patterns or shapes that you get into when playing with that, and I find that that was just an ongoing thing, an ongoing fee with the stuff that I was gravitating towards.
CJ
The beautiful. I didn’t know his linear, but just a beautiful way of that we’re following their of your journey. So thank you for sharing that. Because there’s a lot of that I want to dive into there and bring some tangible pieces to practices too, and things to look into more. And something you had mentioned in a way that I perceive it is that we’ve got different lenses as human beings, we have the ability to shift our perspective and be in different states come to a training session or a bout of exercise or a movement pattern with a level of purpose with, you know, what are we going for today? What is the intent, and sometimes it is just to play and other times it is to connect, I think it’s always to connect, that’s what the play is really doing. But you say connection a lot. And the lenses that I kind of see us as coaches as trainers as therapists that we look through, it’s a variation of recognizing bones and joints, right, that kind of that structural piece of just the spacers in our body. It’s also the muscles that connect with the other connective tissues and the tendons and the ligaments, and how they’re all interacting with the bones and even more so how our nervous system is helping to regulate that or understand those pieces. And then beyond that is layers of fascia thing that people that have dividend dove into Anatomy Trains, and in fashion fascial integration, understanding how this biggest organ of our body helps to connect our left big toe to a right your lobe kind of a thing, like they’re all connected in some way shape, or form through different pathways of tangible tissue, and also energy, something that we can’t necessarily see what we see with our senses, we can we can, we can feel them, we can recognize them in other people when we do that when we practice them within ourselves. And so there’s the, the lens of energy, there’s the lens of shapes that we see, that our body can go into. And there’s the awareness points, like you said, you mentioned the dawn tints and upper, the middle and the lower for example of it’s a field of awareness and how your hips and your heart in your head. Integrating to create a motion that involves muscles, bones, nerves, fascia involves energy involves all these pieces and with different
methodologies or philosophies, it kind of teaches you to funnel yourself into a lens, but you can get stuck in this lens ones can get stuck focusing on just that one piece, while also integrating the rest. But when seeing somebody else approach some movement pattern or practice, from a different lens, we can sometimes get, we can butt heads, because we’re trying to use terms that are from that specific lens and not necessarily integrating them into this whole field, which I feel like things like Chi Gong and Tai Chi have have mastered, you know, been around for 1000s of years and people in practicing it from all walks of life in different ways and integrating it into now fitness more so and performance and using it as restoration and how all these pieces they really do mold together to create one big sphere. And I think that the more lenses you can recognize you look through the more whole your sphere becomes your whole sphere of expression of experience. And that’s really what we’re all doing here in this life is to express ourselves more fully, to empty ourself of our biases and our beliefs in the sense that we become more whole, because we’re recognizing how other people’s lenses help to inform ours. We’re basically mirrors for each other. And we’re a mirror for ourselves. And when we have a tool, how that can be a mirror, in the sense that we either try to serve it, right like a steel mace and it’s got its landmarks and its pieces or How that tool can now serve us because we’ve practiced this lens of being or this mode of being. And I’ve been practicing that a lot recently, myself is like, I want to use the tool in ways that people haven’t used it. But I also want to understand how people have figured out a way to pattern this tool into this matrix. And so how I see it is more of I say, spherical, we say spherical, how I see the sphere. And I’d love to hear your interpretation of it too, because I think, together, we can create a better view and with more people providing their input, a better view is that we have this we have this matrix, this potential field, like if we have these, Dante, ns, those are all matrices within themselves, but they’re part of one larger matrix, one larger grid. And when I say matrix, I’m really thinking of like, the space that encapsulates our patterns. And so this matrix is the maternal aspect, this Womb of potential. And the pattern is this maternal and paternal side of it, which is the pattern within the matrix, and they have to both serve each other. Because if you’re just serving the pattern, you may not recognize the whole potential of how that can be integrated. And if you’re only working in just the matrix, and this etheric thing that doesn’t really exist, but it’s there. It’s tough to, or it’s easy to get lost, and not ever find anything that you can anchor into your being your expression, your experience. So there’s like the sphere, right? Which isn’t, there’s no size of it. It’s infinite ly small, it’s infinitely large, but how much space? Can you take up? How much space can you hold within you, and then move with that awareness so that there there is more potential, and you can keep feeding into whether it’s range of motion, whether it’s the amount of load you’re using, whether it’s the speed at which you’re doing it with? Those are kind of the main ways of challenging your thresholds of performance, your capacities. Now, there’s this whole other side of it, which is just locating yourself. And what does that mean? Like? Where are you right now in reference to the space that you’re in, in reference to yourself, because a lot of times, I mean, for myself, I get very heady with stuff. And I could sit there and think about all these magical positions and expressions and almost in a sense of like a waterbending, or firebending, from from Avatar, and essentially saying, What is my intent with these patterns, and I can, at the end, I feel energized, or I feel like water or I feel expressive, like fire, or I feel very grounded and rooted. And we can get caught up in just being one of those. But what we’ve learned from the you know, the stories is that it’s a goal to kind of bring in each of these elements to our practice, and then keep refining them so that we can help others walk their path, and not necessary our own path. We’re walking our own path, but we’re not making others walk the same path, we’re helping them find their, their truest expression, or their true north, as I like to call it, what’s, what is the direction at which you’re traveling. And sometimes it can be very linear, we’re going from A to B. But then once you get to B, do you stop? Or is there another route that you want to ping pong off of? And eventually you start practicing, like you said, You did weights and footbag, and then Chi Gong and how they’re all the same thing, actually. It’s just where’s my, where’s my intent today, or at this moment with my movement, and a lot of times it’s traversing multiple paths, and you come out and going, Oh, my gosh, I feel like I can’t get a bunch of dots. Now, what the hell are those up? I guess, keep learning keep growing? How do you visualize kind of your space? If you had to put it into context or into words? So it could help somebody visualize? Maybe what their own looks like?
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, I mean, so I imagine you’re talking about yes, the physical space, but also like that sphere of expansion as an individual as well. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I thought, how you put it was really amazing, in terms of the sphere being the womb, or the maternal the feminine right there. And then the patterns or the actions that you’re taking within that sphere, or, or more or more that paternal or masculine? Just to build off of that you mentioned, like linear, the linear path, right? So getting to the sphere in just a sec, but I find this very applicable, right, and in some somebody on the path, right, and so most people in the Western world are conditioned to think very linearly, and there’s a lot of value in that. But we also recognize a lot of limitations. And I think that somebody can be like really demonize the linear way of thinking, right? Or the linear way of learning because they found something that’s like relative or Eastern perspectives. As coaches as a student or somebody who just wants to continue to grow, I think it’s really important to recognize the importance of that linear nature with the results And there’s not really a result here, but the result of you becoming more relative and how you approach things, right. So, you know, from more of like, a spherical perspective, let’s say movement wise, I mentioned it earlier, but like having maps that I can visualize right there, that makes sense to me. And they tend to make sense with nature as well. So I’d say the two, I tried to, like, write down like more maps that I use, but I’d say like the two that I typically visualize with movement, and then also like, even in meditation, like just simply like mapping my body, or like mapping my energy or those three Donte ends, right, like call that the snowman right there. And so, you know, you have your, essentially, the dancin that sits in the pelvis right there, and, and you have a sphere of energy that you can move there or simply cold today, and you have more of that heart center. And then you have like the head and the neck and the throat right there, forming a sphere as well. So stacking my, my energy that way, is very helpful. And then connection wise, through the fascial lines, how they weave through the body. And I think just a, just a, looking at a few images of what this stuff looks like, can be incredibly powerful for how you, you cultivate that map for yourself. Another one, movement wise, and then I’ll go into the other stuff like would be the 333. So like, we have three dots, or three spheres with our spine, so the don t ends right there. And then you have three, three dots on your upper limbs right here. So you’ve got your shoulder, you got your elbow, you got your wrist. And then same thing with your lower limbs right there, you got your hip, your knee and your ankle. And of course, we have other joints, smaller joints within that. You also have, you know, a lot of different stuff around your ribcage as well. But that’s a simple way of just like, Oh, if I understand where these nine points are right here, that’s the vast majority of how I can look at movement, let’s say for more of a linear perspective right there as opposed to spiritual. So those maps right there, I find are great to cultivate that sphere and really understand what the physical body is meshing with that energetic body as well. terms of like the expansion of oneself. I mean, we’ve talked a lot about tai chi.
Unknown Speaker
And we’ll continue on it. I think it’s really valuable to and it’s not for everybody, right, but it’s really valuable to push your boundaries. And one of the definitions of Tai Chi is the extremes. Right? So the yin and the yang right there. So sure, we could look at that from those energetic perspectives, but you just look at anything from a binary perspective. I think that’s where you can get into some trouble. But if you look at that binary perspective, creating a spectrum, then that allows you to see Oh, could I go more into this part of myself and experience more of an extreme there? And then vice versa? So like a common one, right? There is going to be like, let’s say, like exertion versus relaxation. You know, exertion is the word that came to mind for me right there, right? But whatever, like, my ability to relax on this end right here, gives me context and potentially more capacity in that range to exert myself more. So a lot of times, it’s like, oh, let’s just keep hammering, let’s build up that capacity right there. But one’s ability to relax actually allows them to show up in a more, let’s say exertive, assertive, aggressive, like, whatever it may be, right? So I find like, these emotional spectrums are really interesting to experience as well. I have this book right here. And it’s taken me a long time to get through it, but you might be familiar with it. Letting Go by David Hawkins. Yeah. So when we’re talking about emotions as an individual, it kind of goes into that same spectrum right there. Like if I allow myself to feel shame and guilt and grief, like some of these lower vibrational emotions, that really gives context for the other side. Now I don’t want to live there. I don’t want to live in grief and shame and and was emotional states, I want to evolve out of that, or I want to continue to raise my vibration, right. That’s what it means right here. But it certainly gives some context right there. And I find that it’s, again, we these emotions right there, if we just ignore them, then we’re never going to experience that starting to go into that particular extreme that expansion of the sphere there, right. But if we just live there, then that’s also very trapping, as well. So it’s something to just be aware of, like, feel these emotions, but know that like, especially the stuff that’s, and it also goes for the stuff higher up. But sometimes it’s just like, a bus stop. It’s not like this thing that you’re always going to be there, right. And so I think that’s important to keep in mind when starting to dance from one extreme to the other. Like, we don’t want to be in a pendulum there, we’re simply using that as perspective and context. And having more of that full experience of life. You know, that is really, you know, how I like to live my life, I find if I ever get complacent or just okay with or more of an apathetic state right there, that I’m typically not pushing myself in either direction, like, and the ability to expand is, there’s not energy to expand there, I need to get to a spot where it could be. I mean, we don’t have to go into a ton of specifics here. But like, it could be going into anger, and actually getting some energy there. Anger is an energetic state, there’s something to work with there. Whereas if you’re apathetic, and you don’t care about anything, then there’s very little to work with in terms of expansion. So getting into the weeds here, I hope that,
CJ
yeah, I want to, I want to touch on a point like that, I get lost in that. In all the best ways. There’s a book that I read, it’s called energy of emotions by Emily Mershon. And it’s kind of like this funnel. And you mentioned the spectrum of, you know, the Yin and Yang is a great example of just saying, like, hey, people can kind of resonate with that, in the sense of, we don’t really know what it means there’s no real definition for it. But it’s simply a point of awareness and recognition of a point on a spectrum. And if we have that reference point, and we’re aware of it, we can, we can branch out to something else, we may not know what that is yet, if it’s something new, right? If we’ve only lived in yen, and our life is very calm, relaxed, we take in a lot. We’re just kind of at the mercy of our environment, in our situation, until something hits us into this point where I gotta make a change, I’ve got to step into my power, I’ve got to do something about this. That can be really uncomfortable, too. But then we have this reference point that it may elicit some discomfort, some frustration, some anger, maybe even some sadness and depression, because we’re facing some things and now energy is moving. It’s kind of this recognition of a point of stagnation. And in this book of energy promotion, it’s kind of like just recognize, recognize where you are, and just be okay with it allow that to be because our, from what I understand our ego likes to latch on to what it knows and wants to stay in that realm. Because it’s safe. It’s something that we have always lived in, even if it’s very uncomfortable, at a certain point, that discomfort if we’re living in, it just becomes the normal state, or the baseline. And we may not know that there’s a mountain or a trench or something that we can traverse through, that’s going to get us to a different baseline. And so this, this book kind of goes into those lower frequency emotions and those higher frequency emotions. And it’s saying, yeah, if you are in this black hole of depression, and like you just, you’re so stagnant, you literally cannot do anything at this point. And I’m thankful to the point where I have a lot of tribe around me that can help get me out of there. But a lot people don’t, or don’t recognize that they do, or people don’t know how to step in. It’s not like, Hey, you’re depressed, just be happy. Look at all these beautiful things in your life. That’s the kind of work we’re trying to jump loops here like this. We can’t We can’t just get there, we have to get to this potentially next state of frequency that there’s not one necessarily better than the other. But those ones that are more preferred and create are there their stages of creation, and exploration and expression and like we’re, we’re letting go in a sense of becoming who we are. And not latching on to who we think we are. Maybe this depression needs to turn into sadness, maybe that sadness needs to turn into some kind of anger and frustration and maybe that then can turn into just a place of complacency. And now keep moving along the spectrum and go into a place that brings maybe some enthusiasm or some excitement. But if you live there, then you might get too comfortable this and that can be overwhelming. You know, how, what are the stages that we can climb or drop down into because we refer we have a reference point of where we are and where we were, and now where we could be and we can bounce around and And I think what many self practice books and you know meditative practices, don’t necessarily invite you to do is to bring your physical practice into that mental practice. And so if we can, if we can start recognizing, you know, this, I’m not sure who came up with the acronym rain, but you recognize you allow you investigate, and then you basically just not identify with it. And if you can go through the stages of just recognition, I am feeling this,
I don’t want to become so attached try to figure it out, I can then just allow it to be and if we can sink our awareness into that state of being and allowing, now we were allowed to investigate now we recognize where it is how it is, okay, it’s in my, it’s my left shoulder, and what is that I can I can start to investigate man, what’s what’s going on with your shoulder and kind of talk to that space, that then will allow me to dis, you know, not identify with whatever that sensation is, because that sensation is really just as energy flowing through us. And like to think of like emotion is energy in motion. And when we’re not in movement, that energy can become stagnant, and we can get stuck in an emotional state that then turns into this comes from Dr. Joe, it turns into kind of an attitude, and then a personal kind of like an identity to that emotion. And then that’s, that’s our personal reality. But if we can jump around and say, Wow, I’m in this reality of a lot of anger here, frustration here, which I’ve been in, and I ever, I really enjoy my life. But there’s moments where I just get frustrated and angry, and I’m like, I want to act on it. And I’ve sometimes held back and it makes me feel a different kind of discomfort, sometimes act on it, and I’m like, Why did I do that shit, you know, the energy just overtook. But that practice of playing with the recognition and allowance then gives us that that permission, if you will, to then kind of shift where we can go. And I love what you said that you can dance, or it is a dance. And if you actually dance and create some kind of rhythm or recognize a rhythm, how freeing that can be for that emotion that may have become stagnant, or that sensation that was so stagnant, that was part of us not changed, maybe it moved to different parts of our body, maybe it put us into a different mental state, maybe it brought up some old memories, maybe it brought up a state of looking into the future. And like, wow, there’s actually some potential here that I can I can walk into, I just think it’s beautiful, there’s 333 that you brought up, and then kind of a linear point model just of your body in this physical space, and then how you can use those to then become aware of how you’re actually shifting your energy. And that’s easier said than done, you definitely have to put it into practice. And like you have, like I have, like a lot of us have been without a model without a a matrix of which to refer back to or a map as you said it, how can we know where we are on the map? How can we navigate our space, we have to become our own cartographer of awareness, and be able to shift in and out of our body. And I think that, you know, we’re trying to put it into words, but really, it’s it’s such a feeling it’s, we say this term, I feel it know it. And when you feel it, you know it, it’s simple as that. Now, it’s a matter of either you got to do it yourself and just trust the process. Again, easier said than done, or have the practitioner, a master their craft, sharing their insights, sharing the gold nuggets that you might find, help you navigate your own space, if we’re all starting navigating our own space, how much more beautiful. It can be, we’re all moving and dancing together. You look at like a silent disco, people got the headphones in and they’re listening to music, and they’re all dancing. But on the outside, it’s like, people are just bouncing, those grooving, there’s movement, there’s rhythm, these things are bouncing off of each other. And when you’re in that state, you’re the one actually getting how freeing again, that can be when others are also entering that state of expression and freedom. And it gives us a reference point because now we’re mirroring that energy. We’re mirroring this, this transformation, this change, which is really what it is. It’s not about being one thing, it’s about being the ability to ebb and flow between these states, these lenses, these things.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, and I mean, really well said and the thing that really stands out to me about that, in terms of Well, you mentioned something. It was like something about Joe Dispenza and identity, right. And, you know, the vast majority of people like if you boil down their reality, it comes down to like three to five stories, right? And ultimately, we want those stories to serve us and, and usually they’re not. So like actually being able to shift that story. It can be really tough, but I think it starts with permission. Write permission to let’s say, move in a new way. Look at the body, feel the body in a different map and gaining an understanding of let’s say we talk we’re talking about physical practice here, but really it’s like a great one. Wait a map your energy. And you mentioned feel it and know it, it’s like, okay, I can do that with my physical practice, we can also do it with all the emotions that we’re talking about right there, where it’s like, wow, I know when I’m experiencing this emotion right here. And if I’m able to identify that and recognize that I’m in a story, or I’m in this emotional loop right here, I can do something, or I can simply sit with it, right? It doing something can literally be inaction as well, and simply sit with it, and know that, hey, this is going to pass right? Or, or really be able to, in the rain model, right? not identify with it, right. And so I love everything you brought up there, because it really applies to the physical practice. But when we’re going into those emotional states, it can really apply to, and that’s where I find the movement practice and forms of expression. And especially with dance, I find that it’s an amazing way to work through some of those emotions. Like, so there’s a couple practices that I really enjoy. And these go into like more of a martial context or again, a Tai Chi context, but the idea of shadow dancing, so dancing with your shadow, and like seeing, feeling that part of yourself and you know, sure, like, have some fun with it, you could throw some strikes, maybe you need to beat up your shadow, right, but maybe it’s more about like seeing it and feeling it and understanding it, dancing with it. And really gaining something from that experience right there. And what emotions are coming up during that? What are you feeling and getting to know that? Sure, these, these are emotions, but like you said, this is energetic energy emotion that you feel this in your body. And so that’s a way to move that energy and break up that stagnation, if you’re experiencing stagnation. The other one is like just simply dancing. The emotion, right, turning on some music that like applies to how you’re feeling and dancing, what that I remember, like, this is something that happened a ton, I would just put on different forms of music and just allow the song to guide me into those emotional states, right. And I brought this up on several podcasts, but I’ll bring it up again, because it’s, it’s a cool exercise. But put on something that you don’t think you could really dance to. There’s a song called IV, and it’s a live recording by a margin mall who is like this amazing jazz pianist. And I remember putting it on, it’s like a very titoli song. Like, it’s, you know, it’s just, it’s very playful and all this and I remember just being in my room, and like just kind of like bouncing around and had a huge smile on my face and, and getting, getting to know what that song feels like getting to know the emotions that for coming up for me. And I felt like kid and with that song right there. And I wasn’t doing anything drastic with my movement. And so I think, you know, when we’re talking about different ways to stir up energy, it’s like, sure we can, we can journal and dive into our stories and our beliefs right there. That’s gonna stir up some energy. Great. Let’s take that a step further. Let’s feel that in the body breathe into it, where am I feeling that? And then oh, let me take it a step further. Let me actually move to this and sprinkle some more stuff on top of that with some music. And now, that’s an interesting stack right there for you to work through some stuff. And so
Unknown Speaker
I find that those practices that again, allow me to connect with myself going back to that overarching theme there. That’s what makes me stronger as a human. Because I’m not just connecting with my body, I’m connecting with these different emotional states, how I’m handling stress, you know, one of my buddies who’s a great FRC practitioner, he’s like, dude, this stuff helps me so much in terms of resilience and handling stress in my life. And I was like, You know what, that makes sense, because this stuff fucking sucks. It’s really hard. Like, it’s, it’s really tough. Um, and so, you know, I look at stuff like that. And, again, if you can look at this from a multi dimensional perspective, like, that’s how we’re building strength in a lot of these different ways. And, and, yeah, I mean, I can’t tell you how, how much I’ve learned about myself as an individual by looking at movement through that different frame through that different lens. Because well, when I’m playing with the hacky sack, like there’s times I want to go throw it over a fence, because I’m like, why are you rolling off my foot that way? Right? Like, what the hell right? I’ll be yelling at it and all this but like, it’s right there on the ground for me to pick it up and catch I need to go and dive into that conversation with the hacky sack conversation with myself, and gravity and everything like that. So it’s, I think back to there was an interesting moment when I was hanging out with you and slow and you’re talking about how you were leaning on the couch, and how like it distributed the weight onto the legs. And I was just like, Yeah, this is it right here. Like when you start to look at movement through a different lens, you start to see life through a different lens, and you start to look at things with maybe just a one degree shift in perspective. And that can mean the world in terms of making changes in all these different areas of your life. So like I said, I’d be there are some linear aspects to this path. But once you get there kind of explodes open and you’re like, Whoa, okay, how do I make sense of these dots? Right? And that’s, that’s an ongoing thing.
CJ
Yeah, no, it’s awesome. I think we could put this into a, into a term that you share a lot, which is kinesthetic intelligence, it’s essentially just an awareness of your position and movement of parts of your body. In space. We talked about as proprioception, we talked about it as is simply just a an act of doing and experiencing, and then being able to reflect on it, I think it’s another layer deeper than the kinesthetic intelligence that just kind of comes with the practice. No matter what you do, whatever methodology philosophy tool, you use, body movement patterns that you use, it’s going to give you data points. And Benjamin, gosh, what’s his last name? He’s the equilibrium on Instagram, but yeah, bendy Agler. I mean, that guy, you talk about the the level of awareness that can come with energy movement, and expression, and just doing something like he kind of clouds around on all these different ways of do it, you know, people doing stuff and stuck in their way, but really has a lot of beautiful points of just, whatever you do, keep doing it, and expand on it. And whatever that means to you don’t get so caught up in just this one way, because that’s only going to give you certain motion data. If you can move this tool or your body as a tool in different ways. You can, you can collect so much data that then over the course of a week, six weeks, a month, you know, you keep going longer, longer. If you can refer back to a point when you started doing something or you just allowed yourself to be in a certain state and move through that. How easy it can become to enter that state and use that data to then carry over to anything else that you do. And I really think that’s the that’s the ultimate state is to be able to use your framework, use your maps, use your kinesthetic intelligence, and then have some brand new challenge or movement or pattern or something to consider. And then you can integrate that into what you know. And continue to expand upon that until I mean, who knows what the end result is, it’s just a overall better expression of yourself more connection with yourself.
Unknown Speaker
I think it’s like unraveling the the deeper layers of your experience as well. Right. Like, that’s just the it’s not a result. But you start to open that up, and then it it just continues to go. And, you know, I mean? Right, yeah, that’s all I have to say.
CJ
You brought something up something you’re working on currently, which I really want to learn more about. Because of all the backing you’ve done, it’s allowed you to collect enough movement data and experience to then be able to reform it in a way that is a maybe a teachable model or a way to have others just pick up this awareness and this feeling it knowing it kind of concept. Similar to a recorder in a music class, you know, a kid plays an instrument, they learn how to like, oh, there’s different notes. There’s different sounds you can make. And it sounds like me trying to play the Native flute right now. Just yeah, making sounds and all sudden things connect. And you’re like, hey, that sounded pretty good. What did I just What did I just do? Do you mind sharing a little bit about that journey and what you potentially see, helping kids develop this insight that can carry on throughout their entire life. That’s something that really doesn’t exist right now. I think the only thing that’s really physical activity and kids is either playing an organized sport, or you’re doing a PE class at school, which has its own linear kind of model of of learning, and play, as well. How do you see this, this footbag being integrated into a kid’s class into some kind of learning to develop for for the future?
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, well, I think the great a great place to start with this is everything we’ve talked about so far, like so many of us have been conditioned throughout our lives to think Move, be a certain way. And when you start to expand the vocabulary or expand the experience, you recognize that there’s a lot more available there. And so how cool would it be to have a generation that’s coming up that is incredibly intelligent, let’s say kinesthetically. But that also opens up the realms for them to handle the same sort of stress handle the same sort of questions that come up with emotions and actually be able to move through that energy, as opposed to getting stuck in a loop of suppression or repression. And so the toolbox that one gets from let’s say, diving down that path, is very, it’s very broad and very applicable in life. And so what I noticed was with, specifically with the footbag, is it really humbled me, which I think can be tough for people to get started with it. But I saw a lot of a lot of let’s say, the, the structural movement, or the structural positions, that I practiced a lot of, and, and really put me into like a box, right, not so much of a sphere. And I found a lot of value in that. But when I started to use something like the footbag, I recognized an expansion was needed, right? A I needed a different, not a different, but just more of an expansion of that kinesthetic intelligence. And they were real world positions. That was not just like, hey, can we fit this position into the real world, right? It’s like, oh, I’m actually moving in these different ways that are going to show up in life. And I am responding to myself and gravity, but I’m also Reliant and responding on the foot bag right there. So it taught me a lot about what we talked about earlier, where it’s like, okay, how to expand that practice having something that gives you that context. It’s also incredibly fun and energizing, I found, once I started to string together, like 1020 hits, it really turned into a practice that was like energizing, I’d be dripping sweat, but I would continue to have more of that connection and awareness through my body. It also increased my attention span. So when we’re talking about our resources here, the most valuable resources for humans, not like natural resources, but just here we are talking time, energy and attention, right there. And so in a world that says, I don’t have enough time, I don’t have enough energy. I don’t have enough attention for this. Right? What are those remedies? Right? Well, for me, it was something that like, have something in my pocket. That doesn’t take much time. It’s not my phone, right? It doesn’t take much time, the just get out and play with it. It provides me with energy. And it allows me to really focus on that. And so when I look at us, as adults, we all suffer from this, like, go go go, I don’t have enough time, I don’t have enough energy, and my attention spans getting shorter and shorter by the day. And so I see the same thing happening with kids coming up. And do they have those alternatives to direct their attention to, to invest their time into to cultivate their energy with? And so
Unknown Speaker
I really had this vision of, oh, I played the recorder in elementary school, and everybody had one. Wouldn’t that be amazing if everybody had a foot bag, and there’s a model or a foundation that allows them to practice those positions, practice those ranges of motion, practice the bounce the rhythm, everything like that, and then apply it to something like the foot bag, apply it to something like the rope, apply it to something like glue, like whatever it may be, start to branch out and have these different forms of expression that aren’t, let’s say the prototypical team sport, right? where somebody’s picked last. And they have a they develop a story at that age. There’s, there’s there will be that but is there an alternative for people to develop this expression and the one thing that’s really cool about footbag is it’s a great thing on your own once you get tuned into it. It’s an amazing thing for all balls, even if you’re just starting out in a group, it’s like, it’s, I noticed it’s like, it’s like high stakes, but it’s also like incredibly low stakes to, right. So like, in terms of like nervous system resiliency and whatever, like, you’re gonna notice that kick is like, way bigger than it needs to be, right. And you can do that with yourself, you can do that with a group and have a ton of laughs, great conversations. And yeah, and I didn’t even mention dance in that, as well, with the skills, it’s like, we have a foundational practice. And I see that as being what Smooth Moves develops into first working with adults and then trickling down to younger generations. But then, having these, these, the foundation apply to these core forms of expression. And a lot of times again, it’s like, okay, if I can show somebody the structure, the foundation here, they know, it’s not, oh, I’m just a foot bagger, I’m just a dancer, whatever, I’m a mover here, and this is some of the stuff that I can do with that. And I have a good foundation of the language that I can apply to something new when it comes about, right when, when you get some new toy, you know, that your friend sends you it’s like I can I can play around with this and have an understanding for it. So yeah, I mean, that’s, that’s really, you know, what I see for, you know, the physical education revolution, you know, the kinesthetic intelligence for kids, like, we’re drifting to a spot, you know, in history where there’s going to be either a detachment from the physical realm, or the physical embodiment of the human. Or the other direction, which, with which I know, you and I find valuable I know a lot of the listeners find valuable in their lives. And that is that physical practice that capability, that capacity to do things physically and actually, like play in this reality. And, well, we got to, we got to create some alternatives there, we got to create some, some new pads for both adults and in children to walk down. Yeah, you know, it’s not that one is better than the other, it’s just hey, I know that this path is valuable. And I imagine there’s going to be some some people that would much rather go down this path. So let’s create a, an opportunity there. And I see that with what you guys are doing a Janaza. It’s it’s an incredible framework and lens to approach movement in terms of developing that intelligence.
CJ
appreciate you sharing that, that’s the blessing we have here is that we’ve got a whole spectrum of ages and lifestyles, ranging from eight years old to 88 years old, you know, 90s, and finding a universal language that allows each of these individuals to keep expanding their physical practice, which, in tune is going to influence your mental ability and your spiritual connection. And everybody’s got some form of that in some, some way. But how we intentionally do, it may not really exist, it just kind of happens here. They’re kind of spotty. And we never really connect to that deeper level within ourselves and within our community. And we do get to see that how adults doing something trickles down to their kids or to the younger population, you know, somebody in their 60s and 70s, working out of a dysfunction or pain that they’ve had chronically or maybe it’s just to develop more movement awareness, for sake of not falling. Now, there’s different fears that are involved in different age range. And to be able to be in a class or see somebody who’s also working on something similar in terms of a universal pattern or movement or a matrix way of movement, you can kind of see and compare, in a sense where, okay, I’m moving like this, while they move fluidly here, I don’t move fluidly here, we kind of feed each other with our mirror neurons, especially as children seeing the adults do something, it’s much less of how we think we’ve, we’ve lent ourselves to do this. It’s just we tell kids to do this thing. It’s good for him. But really, the kids kind of know. And when they see something that’s pretty cool, or fun, they want to get involved. They want to ask questions. And so it’s finding this, this give and take and a sense of how can we be present with our movement in the sense that are our practice where others see it? And not necessarily Hey, there’s a performance look at what I’m doing. Although that can be a great part of it, seeing somebody who will perform on a stage and going I want to do that, but more so just in daily life spending five minutes or 10 minutes in your morning or your afternoon or your evening or just after dinner, you know, making kind of this making time that exists there doesn’t have to be an hour straight. It could just be just enough time to get a quick stretching or mobility sake Winter, or kick around the foot bag with your family a little bit. It’s fun, how easy it is for kids to follow that model when it’s already put in place, rather than trying to start at the kids and be like, we don’t really know the purpose of this, we’re telling you to do it. I mean, as a kid, kind of, you want to be in rebellion and just not do something because you’re told to do it. So even if it’s fantastic and beautiful for you, it’s like, I don’t want to do that we’ve got to, we got to get past that firewall. And we do that by making it less verbally obvious, but physically obvious, we just see it in the world. And that’s what we do. And as we’ve we can fall into that practice as kids and as teenagers and adults, how that then in like one generation, we can start shifting this lack of connection to a deeper connection and a deeper opportunity to talk about our experiences. And, you know, there’s there’s all this talk right now, too, especially as we become this very emotional state as a being human learning ways to express this in nervously safe ways, but in very beneficial ways and efficient ways and effective ways. Where we can actually talk about our stuff, especially as guys, you know, it’s one of the things that when we’re doing flow stuff, or some that looks a little bit silly or dancing, there’s all I think guys have a firewall up to like, I don’t want to look ridiculous doing this, that’s not what I do, I need to go lift weights, that’s just an easy way of saying it. Versus like, you feel like man, I can go lift weights better now. I feel good. When I go lift, I’m dancing in between sets, you know, like, there’s a cool someone who felt they screwed on strict weight up and whipped it Oh, that felt cool. You know, we can we can get more freeing, we can find ourself more free in this state, the more we can express it with each other with a community of it. So it is brilliant to think about having it trickle down to the youth and it will happen by osmosis rather than by force. Just start absorbing it.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah. And that’s, that’s the permission piece, right? It’s being the example to give people permission to do it. Right. I had this experience a couple weeks ago, on went to take a one day house music show. And I’ve been exploring house dance for about the last year. And that’s a, that’s a very, you know, a lifelong practice and continuing to feel into that. And I love it, it’s really cool. But I was I was dancing and doing some stuff that I’ve been working on and it was clicking it, you know, is a lot more of a flow rather than, you know, I’m going to do this step. And then I’m going to go into this step and all this and just feeling it and there was this little girl that like came over, and was like just watching me. And I was like, okay, and like I’m gonna keep going whatever. And she must have been like, two, two and a half, something like that. And I was like, okay, and I started to try to dance with her, just kind of like jump up, whatever. And she like just looked at me. And it was kind of like, keep dancing monkey. Like, it’s like, I want to see what you’re doing. Right? It wasn’t like, I don’t want to dance with you. I want to see what you’re doing here. And so I could see the wheels turning right there saw the same thing with my friend Mallory, who’s really great with the hula hoop. And we were at this just this little rock show in Gig Harbor, Washington, and she started playing with the hula hoop and all these little girls were just like, Oh, my God was this like, and just really, you know, in awe of it. And, and, and just knowing like, oh, that’s an option. Like, this is an option. Right? And, and, you know, it’s, it’s not a, I think, again, we can get into the weeds of what’s better, you know, what’s optimal. But when we get into that realm of what’s optimal, or like trying to optimize everything, you know, it’s it puts us in this realm of like, Oh, if I’m not optimal, like, let’s say I’m sub optimal, doesn’t matter if I’m like, I got the spectrum here, right? Doesn’t matter if I’m right below optimal. Or I’m at the very bottom here, I view myself as the same. I’m not optimal, right? I’m not in in the best position, or I’m not doing this perfectly or whatever. And so I think that is something that can really deteriorate somebody’s exploration of what they’re doing with their practice with their life, whatever is, is chasing that. That optimal way of doing things and really just feeling into like, what do I want to do? What works well, for me? What makes me feel good? What makes me feel strong? And, yeah, so I mean, I’m, I know it’s a, it’s a long journey and road and I’m excited because it’s gonna bring a lot of cool people together and a lot of great minds and bodies together to make this happen. I know there’s so many other people that see the same thing. And so I’m really excited just to be dedicated to, to that, you know, providing another route to intelligence to, to a thicker, more beautiful experience of life. And, yeah, I it’s just been such a blessing to be able to explore movements and have that trickled down into all these different areas of my life. So I just want to share that with other people. And, and, yeah,
CJ
thanks, man. For clothes here, I wanted to share something too, about something that we can do. It’s easy if we are in this realm, and maybe we’re not a coach, we’re just a practitioner, we’re just, we’re just practicing our practice. And we tend to do that, I think, at least where I was, in a quiet space, nobody can see me I want to explore and I think that’s, it’s a beautiful way to go. Because you can learn a lot about yourself just being in the, in your own space, and nobody, nobody’s gonna judge you, you only got yourself to judge you about these things. And you can bring up a lot of these pieces. Some of them challenged our, our members here, Jim Nazo. And those who are practicing like rope flow and steel mace flow, kettlebell juggling stuff, that’s, it’s with load, it’s got some purpose to it, there’s there’s intent to it. And there’s, there’s patterns and pathways that when somebody watches it, it can look absolutely beautiful, because it’s, it’s integrating all of these lenses. And it’s, you’re now expressing it, you’re now flowing it through you into the external environment. And so we challenge ourselves to do is go out into public, not necessarily to make it a whole show, just go out to a park, go out to a beach go out to go to your gym, if you got to open space, and just go pick up some equipment if you have the ability to and they allow it. But we got to this place called Shell Beach. And we’ll bring out a mesa kettlebell rope. I got the sun wheel that I’ve been playing with a lot to this, this circle. And it’s it looks like you’re, you know, we’re at Coachella or something out there. And it’s a it’s freedom of expression. And there’s music and there’s dance, and there’s there’s life happening. And I can’t tell you how many people have come up to us going like, what what are you doing, or just watching from a distance and like people will be walking by, and then they’ll stop. And it’s like, they’re not shut, they’re supposed to be watching, but it’s like, Wait, they’re out in public, you know, there’s kind of this weird dialogue that happens internally, but then you just, you go and I like to throw headphones in and just go, and I’ll recognize stuff. But what I’m what I’m, what I’m doing intentionally is like, I just want this energy to be present, so that you can gravitate towards it, if you like and ask questions, and I’m gonna be open to it, I’m going to invite you to, to hold it to, you know, swing around the rope a little bit and maybe teach them a thing or two if they want or just have them watch from the side, it’s like giving them permission to to experience this, this the state. And it’s getting kids are out there doing gymnastics and stuff, we’re doing rope flow, and also these kids start, like there’s like an AW, and then they wanted to go do a cartwheel or something. And it’s it’s, it’s feeding the environment. And it’s creating this space that
I was reading a lot about like morphic fields and essentially how, for example, like a rocking chair that your grandmother’s mother used to rock your grandma, you know, it’s been in the family for generations, and how this chair carries with it so much energy from the past that has this loving, caring, it’s kind of like holding space. And we all do that with parts of our house, certain chairs, certain ways we sit certain ways we drive and places we stop, it’s like, we can bring our physical practice into a space and just fill that space with light and love and that sounds like hippie dippie. But it’s also it’s it’s true people light up, there’s joy, there’s smiles, there’s laughter There’s conversations that are stemmed from something that you may or may not be doing. But it’s generating this, this energy from within you that is now in the environment. And like it talked about, we’re in the dojo in my house and you’re just laying on the couch and leaned over and I was bringing awareness to just different points of contact. It’s like we’re always rooting to the earth in this is gonna seem more esoteric, but you’re just rooting to the earth and the stronger your roots are, the more connected you are to the ground, the more beautiful everything else above and the more freedom everything else above has, without the routes, how you might feel disconnected and not, not in the moment not present. It’s like steering away from this, okay, you need to have all these prerequisites of safety and know all these motion patterns before you go and express them. What if we don’t start with that safety component? We just start with recognizing how rooted we are today. Not an optimal route or non optimal route. It’s just this is how I’m routed man I feel kind of ungrounded maybe today my practice is just working on some deep squats and ground game until I feel grounded and now I can and go further. And how to like think about it is that route and then into this light flow with your roots like a tree dancing in the wind. And then this expression element where it might be a little bit more stormy, there’s a bit more variety of things that can come in, you’ve got hand expressions, you got a leg kicking up, you’re swinging your head different ways, or you’ve got ways to express it. And in that now you can experience your breath and this peace, this overall calm and stillness, that you’re now creating movement from within it, you’re rooted, you’re able to flow with it, you’re able to express it and you’re able to recognize it from kind of this just third person view may be top down from the side, but you’re seeing yourself from multiple perspectives. And the people that surround you are those mirrors, and those expressions. And the more we are connected to that, as individuals, the more we can connect to that as a community. And that’s where not only do our kids thrive, in our own family, our own unit thrive, it’s like the environment starts to thrive. There’s different things that we can pay attention to. And I think that’s been elicited from different states of states of mind and different consumption of different animal plant and animal mess medicines and stuff to open up the doors. And then it comes to the mental physical integration of what you experienced there, take it into that sober state, or where you’re not under anything. And now bring that somewhere and share that somewhere, not with any real goal, or purpose in mind, besides the fact of connection. And if we can come back to that connection, what’s better than feeling connected, it’s kind of feels off to be disconnected. But sometimes that’s you got to get disconnected to feel reconnected, because then you recognize the spectrum of I was over here. And now I’m sitting right here. Yeah, I can breathe into this, I can actually take it in, instead of letting stuff go. Now we’re able to connect with, you know, what, what we really are? Expressive, expressive meat sack.
Unknown Speaker
No, well said, man, and I really liked the distinction of the feeling of being grounded. And I think, you know, ultimately, when when people are talking about like, oh, safety and security, what does that actually give us? And is that feeling of, of being grounded. And so, if we just get trapped on something like safety, even though I think it’s good to cultivate that feeling of safety, it’s, it’s, ultimately, am I here, grounded present, like my feet by two feet, right here on the ground, and I’m right here. And that’s okay. If even if you’re not feeling the most grounded, like you can still be connected or in touch with, like you said, I’m not quite there, or like, let me just take that time to be present with myself right here and really cultivate that sphere of energy. You know, open up the, the energy for other people to feel and, and I mean, just really well said on all those fronts, like, I’m blown away.
CJ
Do you mind do you mind sharing a little bit, you mentioned earlier, smooth moves, I want to bring this up, because it’s a cool way to for people to start integrating what we’re talking about into your own practice and assume that you got to Instagram for it. And it sounds like you’re doing some bigger things with that project. You kind of breaking down what Smooth Move is from Grant tones?
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, man. Absolutely. So I had a friend call me this smooth Rakuen. me just, I had this raccoon medallion. And, and he’s like, oh, you know, you’re just a really smooth mover. Right? And so this term smooth, just like kept ringing in my head. And, and so that’s really like, the origins of that is, you know, just doing my thing. And then people come to me and being like, Hey, man, you’re really smooth mover. Think there’s, you know, I really appreciate that. And like, what it’s led me to is, okay, what’s the process to take people to that stage and so so with smooth moves, like, I really like to focus on, let’s say, the qualities of movement, but going like incredibly simple with it, right? So like, boiling things down to the simplest form. So there’s really three qualities right there have smooth moves, and you’re gonna find this in any sort of sequence flow follow along, that I run somebody through and that is simple, strong, and smooth. You can we can even look at this as like the symbol of like building the map and understanding that piece of it right? Strong, connecting those dots, holding positions, understanding getting rounded in your body, and then smooth starting to move through transitions and different movements and then flows right there. And so Smooth Moves is a movement platform that’s designed to help you build strength and skill with nothing but your body. And then, of course, apply that to other forms, or other modalities, like the footbed, like dance like rope flow, whatever, whatever people want to apply this to. That’s how we’re going to follow that thread there. But yeah, I just wanted to really share what has come up in my practice, and what I’ve found the most valuable, the most accessible in terms of your resources, your time, your energy and attention. And, you know, so that really is the biggest piece right there. I find a lot of people, you mentioned it earlier to you going into a new season of your life, like, it’s like, you know, what is? What does my time look like? What is my energy look like? What is my attention look like? And so one, it’s something that doesn’t take a lot of time, doesn’t take a lot of energy, and doesn’t take a lot of attention, that’s upfront, but on the back end, you’re probably going to cultivate more time or want to spend more time with it, and then also get more time on the back end of your life. And then you’re probably going to cultivate more energy, and then cultivate that. That ability to hold your attention. And so, yeah, it’s essentially a movement membership that I run people through. And it’s follow alongs and instructionals. People get I kept putting stuff out there in terms of movement resources, and people were like, This is what I want, I want follow lungs, I want to be able to do this in 15 to 20 minutes. And I’m like, Okay, let me figure out what that looks like. And so it’s been a long time coming in and just organizing everything into a system and a structure that makes sense, and allow somebody to pop into it linearly. And then ultimately start looking at things relationally. And like, Okay, how does this apply to my running? How does this apply to footbag? How does this apply to lifting weights, and essentially, giving them the tools to build that strength for themselves in different areas of their life? And so I’m rolling that out right now in like more of an alpha state, and then, you know, the beta is going to be opening up at the end of this month. And, yeah, you know, it’s just daily movement consistency. I think, you know, the other thing to touch on here, we talked a lot about is that process that
Unknown Speaker
one goes through and like a movement sequence, right. And so I look, I like to look at things from that energetic perspective. So it’s like, that first stage, right there is energizing right there, right, and really like feeling the energy, right, let’s say I’m feeling though, like, great, I can really cultivate energy with some breath and some more energetic movement, I can also cultivate or channel that energy through some slower movement, if I’m feeling like really energized or like scattered, right. So whatever is going to help me get into that mode that I want to be in right there. Taking that into that connection piece into that strength piece, working on some simple positions, some simple movements that are going to really dial up that strength. And then that last piece is going to be more of that play and exploration. I always like to reference this and like just doing a bunch of push ups and then going into some like really flowy Qigong stuff that I used to do that was like, really relaxed. And it was like, Oh, this is this is strength right here. Like, I’m deep in my lines in my joints right now. And I’m moving through this and somebody might look at this and say, This looks very, you know, just flimsy and unstable and all that, but I’m feeling that strength. And so yeah, man, that’s, that’s smooth moves. And, you know, we’ll start we’ll start with the adults and then more to come as things progress.
CJ
Right on that you’re a beautiful bridge. For this, I think. I think a lot of us are beautiful bridges. We’re all bridges could choose to be getting somebody from one side of the bridge to seeing that there is another side but sometimes you don’t know what’s on either side until you start crossing the bridge and like holy shit. This is a long bridge, but man look on that right. And now we have two sides of the spectrum to look out from the center of the bridge. What’s the what’s the Instagram? Well, what’s what’s the best way to find smooth moves? What’s that? What’s that spelled? Like? Sounds like smooth, but it’s not smooth. Yeah.
Unknown Speaker
Oh, two Instagrams. Here. There’s my name, which is Grant s Thomas. All one word, you’ll know you’re in the right spot. And then there’s smooth moves. So that’s s m, ov and then mo v s. And you can also find that on YouTube. There’s some fun All Long’s on there some hacky sack tutorials, some rope flow tutorials, although you got a really great bridge right here for that. You know, so you know anything that comes in the realm of more foundational strength movements, you’re gonna find it up there, along with different forms of expression that, you know, people just been like, Hey, I wanted to Toriel for this. So that’s where I throw it up there, and best place to find me spots.
CJ
Oh man, I really do appreciate that. I think you know a lot of people looking to start this journey, recognize that you’re already on it if you’re listening to this. And the more maps you have, I think the more maps you have and the way you’re able to integrate it. The bigger your own map becomes. And the more organized that map becomes, I’ve certainly been stuck in the realm of like one map. And then I get a just complete tear up that map and I tried to recreate a new one. And in the process of tearing apart maps, meaning I just stop being intentionally integrating those pads, I start to remember how or I should realize how each of those maps are the same map just continue to be refined different lenses, like we’ve said, and I think this is really about creating your own map, so that you have a place of reference to navigate, navigate your space and recognize that everybody else has their own maps as well. And sometimes we get caught and trying to get people to go with the same map. And the maps are always designed to just get us back on our path and find what that TrueNorth that direction that we’re going really looks like and become connected to that path. Though it may not be one straight line, it’s usually a bunch of squiggles and curves and circles and spirals, and then there’s no map and then there is something there. It’s all part of the process. And you know that you’ve always got a community here, we’ve actually got a discord channel that’s free called the movement collective. And it’s a place of different minded individuals, but all along a similar path, which is to help their communities and help ourselves while helping the communities too. We can’t help ourselves, we can’t help other people. So in this channel, you can check it out through our hit me up through Instagram at movement exploration channel, or Jim Nazo. And Jim Nazo underscore edu. One Vijendra, that server and it’s a place where we talk about case studies, we talk about explorations, we share videos, we share the podcasts and have a chat in real time, from people all over the world. And that’s continuing to grow. We started that last year. And it’s been a cool place to connect. And again, that service is free. And then on the other side of that we’ve also got our MDM C which is the multi dimensional movement coaching channel and we’ve got a whole mentorship through that it’s could take you three months could take you six months, but really, it’s your whole life of learning and transformation. And that’s got a more intentional community as well serving through group classes, one on ones, my privates and really working with understanding the model of how fitness, restoration and performance blend together, especially as somebody who may have been a seasoned athlete before, looking to kind of get back on track with a program that’s very versatile. We kind of take you through the whole programming realm of that and line it up in ways that you can learn the biomechanics, learn how physics and biology and psychology all kind of blend together so that you can better serve your community. So I encourage you to check that out as well. But certainly an easy route to go check out smooth moves, and just start trying to apply the principles and the strategies that grant lays out. There’s super rad I’ve incorporated a lot and the music that you’ve sent me has been awesome because it’s like, I don’t really listen to this stuff. And I listen to him like, I gotta listen to a whole radio on this stuff. And then my movement and a lot of it does look disorganized, but in my mind and my my body I feel very connected with certain points and reconnecting new dots. So great. It’s been an absolute pleasure having you on I’m sure we’ll dive deeper as smooth moves continues to grow and your foot bag ability by osmosis, I’m now thinking about ways to integrate it into my practice. So I’m going to probably go pick up a bag this afternoon somewhere
Unknown Speaker
yeah, I would say go pick one up anybody that’s out so I ran out of stock I was selling some some nice some custom ones. They’re they’re coming back in stock so just let you know, but I would I would pick up like a sand master foot bag. Those are those are money I think the crochet ones are like really great. They take a while to break in and they’re there they can be like pretty sporadic and bounce around a lot of places whereas like with the sandbag I think it’s a little easier to learn with and and then you get to do some more fun stuff with it. Which you know, I think once you get started with the band, I’m excited so I wanted to get your address out to when the new ones in stock so yeah,
CJ
I’m gonna play with the heck out of that thing than anything else to Leave our listeners with Grant. I think we’ve driven into a lot of cool, different forests here that are going to continue to be discovered. Yeah, man.
Unknown Speaker
I mean, there’s always there’s always more to be said. I mean, we said a lot here. I hope these are, you know, actionable words that allow you to dive deeper into your practice and, you know, feel free to reach out and thanks again, CJ and the Janaza crew for having me on.
CJ
And on. Thank you. Thank you. For those you listening. We will be inviting more movement practitioners on in the coming weeks. So stay tuned and feel free to check out ones from previous conversations as well. Lots of cool insights into cheap torque and the steel mace and energy movement. And gosh, we’ve had quite a few different individuals on here talking about different methodologies. So we’re going to continue this trend and bring on more individuals that are mastering their crafts. Until next time, y’all
Unknown Speaker
peace
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