Finding Balance – Drew Manning
MUST HAVE RESOURCES
SUMMARY
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Finding balance in physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspect of our lives is an ongoing practice.
Adding daily meditation and daily positive to your morning routine can change your life for the better. This will help you finding balance more than any workout or any diet program that you will do.
If you’ve never done meditation, you can start downloading free apps like Headspace and Calm.
Breathing techniques and using your senses throughout the guided meditation process just really helps me learn how to be in the moment.
The meditation really helps me hone that in and connect with my inner self.
Meditation will help you finding balance and step outside of what the fitness industry shows you.
Become your own source of happiness no matter what your body looks like.
Being healthy and finding balance isn’t just losing weight, being skinny, or having six pack abs. There’s so much more to health than just that.
Your body does not define who you are.
There’s so much more to overall health than just the physical side of it.
Meditation isn’t weird. It’s something that every single person in America could start doing that’s going to make a huge difference in their life.
Three things that could help you across all platforms:
- Embrace vulnerability.
- Learn how to live in the moment.
- Love yourself where you’re at now and not worry so much about what other people think of you.
TRANSCRIPTION: FINDING BALANCE – DREW MANNING
Finding Balance In life
Luis Congdon
All right. Thriving Launchers, what does it mean to be fit, healthy, and successful and to be able to finding balance in life? Do you want a body that you completely love?
Today, we’re going to discover how you can completely fall in love with your body. How you can have fitness like you’ve never had before.
Today, we’ll be speaking with Drew Manning about finding balance in life. Drew has his own TV show on A&E. He’s also gone from fit to fat and back to fit so he’s an incredible story about that. He’s a father, an incredibly successful in his own right. We’re excited to have him on the show.
All right. We’re here with Drew Manning. I’m so excited to have you here. We’re going to just really dive to what fitness is and this really holistic aspect.
Drew, welcome to the show. Are you ready to launch?
Drew Manning
I’m ready to launch man. Let’s do this.
Luis Congdon
Awesome, we are excited to talk about finding balance.
So, you’re a dad. You’re on television. You’ve got this brand that’s exploded. I’ve seen you all over the place. I came across your name once and then twice and then three times. I’m not even someone who’s really into the fitness world. I’m into health and caring about myself. But I’m not really big in that world but you started showing everywhere.
I saw a little piece about you. I liked your energy. It just resonated with me. How are you finding balance in life? Because, to me, I imagine that you’re a very busy person.
Drew Manning
Yes.
Finding balance in life is an ever evolving thing especially when it comes to physical, mental emotional, spiritual part of lives.
Finding Balance Is An Ongoing Practice
Drew Manning
Finding balance in life is really an ongoing practice that never really ends in my opinion. Just like fitness, you’re never done. You’re never like, “Okay. I got 10% body fat. I got my 6 pack. I’m done.” It’s like, something you has to be part of your life style and on-going. You’re continually learning. You’re continually upgrading your life.
So, for me, it starts with small and simple things that help me find peace.
For example, the two biggest things I have made a difference in my life helping me find a balance with all of this. Honestly has nothing to do with fitness.
Adding daily meditation and daily positive to your morning routine can change your life for the better and more so than any workout or any diet program that you’ve done. Those two things I think everybody can benefit from no matter where they’re at in life.
Luis Congdon
Yeah. One of our guests Hal Elrod, talks about this. He calls it the SAVORS. The way that we start the morning and the acronym is SAVORS. The first thing that he starts with is silence and then, affirmations. Silence and affirmations, and that’s what you’re talking about.
Hugh Jackman, incredible guy, read an article about him. They ask him, “What are your keys to success?” I mean, he’s incredibly successful Drew. You’re also very successful and his answer was, “I meditate for 20 minutes every day.”
It’s really cool to have a guest like you come on and say that. What does your meditation and your practice look like? Can you dive into that a little bit with us?
Finding Balance Through Mediation
Drew Manning
Yes. Exactly.
You got to understand first of all. My background, I grew up in a very conservative religious background. So meditation to me was something I never grew up doing. I never learned how to do. So, over the past few years, I had to start from ground zero. Basically it came from downloading free aps. Meditation really helps finding balance in life.
I remember hearing about Headspace. I think from Tim Ferris and I’m like, “Okay, this sounds like a meditation 101 or meditation for dummies type of thing.” So, I use guided meditation apps that were free. That’s where I just started learning how to connect with my inner self.
Breathing techniques, using your senses throughout the guided meditation process just really helps me learn how to be in the moment. Because, my whole life was so focused on worrying about the past. Or being fearful of the future and never really being present. The meditation really helps me hone that in and connect with my inner self.
Headspace and then, Calm. Those are two free apps that anybody can download that are guided meditations that if you’ve never done it. I think that’s a great place to start in finding balance.
Kamala Chambers
How is the meditation journey played into your fitness world?
Drew Manning
That’s a great question about finding balance.
Honestly, it has helped me step outside of what the fitness industry shows you.
If you go on social media and you look at the fitness industry. It’s all about six pack abs and the outward physical looks. Whereas now, I preach the people to help them be at peace, no matter what their body looks like.
Finding Balance
Drew Manning
So if they’re trying to lose weight, that’s not their end goal. For me, it’s helping them be happy with who they are first. Then, the outside transformation will take place over time if they stay consistent with these healthy habits.
Whether you have six pack abs or not, that shouldn’t be your source of happiness.
Drew Manning
Teaching people how to become their own source of happiness no matter what their body looks like is a tough challenge. But for me, that’s helped even me not be so obsessed with what the fitness industry pushes as what healthy is.
Healthy isn’t just losing weight, being skinny, or having six pack abs. There’s so much more to health than just that.
Adding in daily meditation has helped me pull away from that in a sense.
Don’t get me wrong, I still like to exercise. I like to eat healthy. For me, I do like to maintain a good physique, but that does not define me. That’s not who I am. My body does not define who I am.
Luis Congdon
Drew, that’s incredibly beautiful to hear from you. It really reminds me of our interview with Elliot Hulse. He talked about meditation and how he’s really gone deep into meditation.
For him, it is the most important part of his health regimen in finding balance. His ideas of fitness have really transformed during our interview. We’re blown away about how much focus and energy he puts into meditation and talking about that with people.
Finding Balance And Slowing Down
Luis Congdon
Another guest of ours, Wim Hof, who has the world record for sitting in ice the longest in the world. He talks about breathing and meditation as a way to really find this peace and finding balance. It is a way to slow the body down and do practically these phenomenal feats.
One of the things I absolutely love what you just said is that fitness isn’t everything for you. It really starts with self-love and caring about yourself. That resonated so much with us and what we do here at Thriving Launch.
Kamala Chambers
Yeah, my question is what else? What else have you found through this journey? Because you’re so predominant in the fitness world. However, just focusing on the body doesn’t necessarily bring the most balance. You have this successful business that you’re running.
What else have you found that’s bridging the gap between all of these different areas of your life that’s creating the success?
Drew Manning
Honestly, it all started with my fit to fat to fit journey. That’s where it started. It happened to the mental and emotional side of transformation.
Here’s the problem is. I was just your typical trainer back in the day, focusing on the physical aspect of weight loss. “Okay, here’s meal plan. Here is exercises. Here is how you get skinny. Here’s how you get shredded,” and I thought that’s what people wanted to know.
Then, through this process of me letting go of that for six months and gaining 75 pounds of fat during my fit to fat process, I freaked out. Because I identified who I was with what my body looked like. Once I lost my six pack and my muscles. I was this overweight person, I freaked out and I didn’t know who I was.
Finding Balance And Tapping Into Your Inner Self
Drew Manning
It forced me really to tap into my inner self to realize. “Who am I if my body isn’t this perfectly-molded 10% less body fat? Who am I beyond that?” That’s where I’ve started to understand the mental and emotional side of transformation. That’s what helped me relate to my overweight clients and that’s what helped them relate to me.
I started to realize that there’s so much more to overall health than just the physical side of it. That’s where it all started and then from there, I went through a divorce. It was horrid. It was hell and it was life shattering because my whole life I had known like, “Okay, this is me. I’m a married guy and this is what I’m supposed to do” and then, boom! Here I was divorced and worried about what other people were going to think of me. I had to find a way to find peace.
Honestly, life coaches or one life coaching in particular that changed my life, reading certain books. I recently just did a Facebook live video on the six books that changed my life. These books helped me transition from being married to finding peace after my divorce.
Reading those six books, daily meditation, and then, the positive affirmations have really set me up to where I am today. I still know that I have a long ways to go.
Like for example, you mentioned Wim Hof. If I could on that level, I would love to be on that level. I’m still in the Headspace and Calm apps and moving up from there. It goes to show you that it’s a never ending journey. Finding balance is a never ending process. There’s always room for improvement and upgrading.
Finding Balance And Reaching Highest Level of Success
Kamala Chambers
One thing that I find is that so many coaches, entrepreneurs, people who are out there. So many of the Thriving Launchers, they come to us. Secretly they whisper, “I feel like a fraud.” That’s something that is so prevalent in the industry as an entrepreneur because we’re supposed to be to a certain level. I really appreciate your transparency with where your journey was through that.
Luis Congdon
One of the other things too that I mentioned. Kamala it’s a great point because a thing that I really got out of your story Drew and it really resonates with my story is we reached this pinnacle of success. It might not be the highest level of success that other people that we see in the world are reaching. But for us is a personal pinnacle.
You’re married. You’ve got a job. You’re fit. You’re enjoying yourself. You’ve got this exterior thing that you finally achieved and then all of a sudden, life changes. That happened to me. I lost it. A job ended. A relationship ended. I’ve lost pretty much all my money. I was sleeping on a couch and sleeping in a park.
My ideas of myself, I was quite confused about life at that time. I went through a similar journey and transformation that you’re talking about and a touch on that piece about the meditation and the Wim Hof status.
One of the things that yoga has really taught me in studying it is that those external successes that somebody like Wim Hof for example is portraying to us. It’s a great example of what’s possible but at the end of the day, it’s the inner peace that is the most important.
Always Focus On Finding Balance
Luis Congdon
I know that you’re a dad and you’ve got this whole other side of you that’s a father. I know that now, you’re taking fitness to this whole new level where there’s more encompassing of the whole person. Like love yourself, take care of yourself, includes some meditation. Don’t just focus on looking on the mirror and reaching that thing. Because if you’re not happy and you reach that place and you don’t like your body. Then you probably won’t enjoy it when you get there.
So, what are some of the things that you’re doing with your clients differently? Or doing in your personal life where you’re focusing on your kids? I’d really love to hear about that.
Drew Manning
Honestly, it starts with me just getting it out there to the mainstream media these small little tools that have made a big difference in my life. So, talking about these books that have helped me embrace vulnerability, helping me live in the moment, helping me let go of my ego and then also, talking about these guided meditation apps.
Here’s the thing is, yes we would all love to be on that Wim Hof level and melt ice around us but your average person just needs to start with the breathing. Learning how to breathe first of all correctly and being present in the moment.
This is what I learned from being in the fitness industry too is to take someone that is eating McDonalds for breakfast, a box of macaroni and cheese for dinner, and snacks on Pringles and soda.
They’re starting from ground zero step one. To get them to be like, “Okay. Now, you’re a vegan and now you don’t eat anything processed” is a huge jump for most people.
Making Small Changes And Finding Balance
Drew Manning
So realistically, if I could get that person just to make small simple changes by cutting out soda and drinking diet soda for example, that might be a great start. That doesn’t mean they’re perfect. They still have long ways to go but, if I can get them making small changes, over time, maybe they’ll go from this point A to point B and that from there, point B to point C.
It’s all about baby steps. All these things that I’m doing, that I’m talking about are the things that the elites are doing but I dumb it down for people through my podcast, through my Facebook live videos so that it reaches the mainstream media.
Drew Manning
I would love is to get your average middle-America person realize that meditation isn’t weird. It’s great. It’s not just something that celebrities do or monks do. It’s something that every single person in America could start doing that’s going to make a huge difference in their life.
I recently talked to my good friend Pedram Shojai, who’s the urban monk. He does a great job of getting your average person to realize that they can start doing these breathing techniques. This is going to help them in all aspects of their life, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
That’s where the problems at is getting these things and tools to the mainstream media and getting them to make these small simple changes is what I’m trying to do through all my platforms. Facebook live, my podcast, blogs, videos on YouTube, those kinds of things.
Finding Balance And Getting Fit In All Aspects of Life
Kamala Chambers
Before we close out, what is the one message that you want to send to the Thriving Launchers today?
Drew Manning
This is just me personally. This is something that has helped me.
- Embrace vulnerability.
- Learn how to live in the moment.
- Love yourself where you’re at now and not worry so much about what other people think of you.
Those are three things. I’m sorry. That’s not one.
Luis Congdon
That was great though. That was so clear and concise though.
Drew Manning
That’s what going to help you out.
Whether you’re trying to be physically fit, whether you’re trying to lose weight, or whether you’re trying to be successful in your job or your entrepreneurship, those three things I think are going to help you across all platforms; physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
Life’s a journey and don’t be so hard on yourself. Those are the biggest lessons that I’ve learned over the past couple years.
Kamala Chambers
We have been here with Drew Manning. It’s been fantastic to have you on the Thriving Launch podcast. We’ve been talking about getting fit, not just physically but spiritually, emotionally, and in our lives.
Thank you so much for being on the show.
Drew Manning
Thank you for having me. It’s my pleasure.
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