1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,000 Tell me about your vision. 2 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:09,000 I've been running a martial arts meditation academy for about 30 years. 3 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:15,000 And one of the things that's really inspired me to write my last couple books 4 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:21,000 and to build my online program and my teacher training program is, you know, 5 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:24,000 we've had over 26,000 students come through the academy. 6 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:30,000 And I've literally seen the meditative arts change hundreds of people's lives. 7 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:36,000 And so that's why I created the online program and wrote the yielding warrior is 8 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:42,000 I want to get that message out to as many people as possible and share the benefits of the meditative arts. 9 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:50,000 That's a very different vision. 10 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:54,000 So tell me, where did it come from? 11 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:59,000 This vision of you, of meditating arts and martial arts at the same time, I'm assuming. 12 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:04,000 Yeah. So the meditative arts came to me in a bit of a roundabout way. 13 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:11,000 I was originally as a younger guy, 19, 20 years old, really into Western boxing. 14 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:16,000 And I had a boxing coach tell me that I should start doing meditation in Tai Chi. 15 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:20,000 And at the time, you know, I thought, isn't that for like old people in the park? 16 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:24,000 How's that going to help me with my, you know, my practice? 17 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:26,000 And I had a lot of respect for him. 18 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:31,000 I took on the practice and the meditative arts changed my whole life in so many ways 19 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:34,000 and my trajectory of how I started. 20 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:42,000 But it's kind of funny in that in the beginning, I wasn't really interested in wanting to pursue a meditation path. 21 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:48,000 But it ended up being a great investment of time. 22 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:53,000 And I'm forever grateful to him for turning me on to the practice. 23 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:56,000 How old were you when you started that? 24 00:01:56,000 --> 00:02:00,000 I was around 19, 20. 25 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:03,000 Oh, pretty young, very pretty young. 26 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:04,000 Yes. 27 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:07,000 That's amazing. That is amazing. 28 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:13,000 Is that what you say your vise? Why do you do what you do? 29 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:15,000 It's very closely connected. Yes. 30 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:22,000 So running my martial arts academy, we also have what I call external martial arts. 31 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:27,000 We do Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Western boxing, Muay Thai kickboxing. 32 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:31,000 And through the years, I've trained a number of competitors that go out. 33 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:36,000 And it's always fun training a competitor to go out and do well in the practice. 34 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:43,000 And, you know, when a first place medal or when a belt or that kind of thing in a competition. 35 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:51,000 But nothing hits home as closely as when somebody comes in here who's been dealing with anxiety or depression 36 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:57,000 or they've had a health issue or something, and then they take on the meditative practice and it changes their whole life. 37 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:03,000 And so that's what my my drive is, is making those kinds of changes. 38 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:06,000 That is amazing. I did not. 39 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:11,000 I didn't think about that until you said it. I bet I guess. 40 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:17,000 I don't know how that works, but I'm guessing somehow the focus goes on to. 41 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:25,000 Meditation, martial arts and away from depression and anxiety, and they probably have a better purpose in life. 42 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:33,000 So so the meditative arts is is a science and it's a very dynamic, it's very diverse. 43 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:36,000 You know, there's five main directions within a meditative practice. 44 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:47,000 You can do it for the athletic side or the combative side, the therapeutic side, the philosophical side, the meditative side, and also the medical side. 45 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:54,000 And so different people that come to a meditation practice might just resonate with one or two of those areas. 46 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:59,000 And so when you build a meditation practice and incorporate that into your lifestyle, 47 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:06,000 it's important to focus on things that help you in whatever direction you have an interest in. 48 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:11,000 And then also to create an evolving life practice around that direction. 49 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:20,000 And so, you know, a lot of times people get the misconception that meditation is, you know, sitting down and counting your breaths. 50 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:25,000 You know, it's I've been studying the meditative arts for over 30 years and I'm still just a student. 51 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:29,000 I'm nowhere near the master. You know, there's so much to learn with the practice. 52 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:37,000 And one of the things that makes it so interesting and fun to pursue is that it is such a deep practice. 53 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:41,000 Thank you for being here today. I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live. 54 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:46,000 I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes continue to move forward. 55 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:50,000 This is going to get more and more fun. We'll have more and more engagement as well. 56 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:54,000 We'll invite people to participate in the show. And thank you for giving us your time and attention. 57 00:04:54,000 --> 00:05:17,000 Have an excellent time building out your vision and becoming a Vision Pro yourself.