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This important, unspoken aspect of wellness

This important, unspoken aspect of wellness – Off The Mat

This important, unspoken aspect of wellness

It’s been a few weeks since the last Off The Mat email, and I’m excited to be back this week to talk about something VERY important to me – something I think should be equally important to YOU, too – personal time.

Personal time is your YOU time. It’s when you hang out with yourself and allow your thoughts to process, without anybody but YOU to tell yourself what’s right, what’s wrong, or to persuade you to think in any one direction.

Before we had social media (and even before we had televisions) this was easy to find. Waiting for something? You can’t open your phone and scroll through Facebook. Want to go to the store? That’s a 3-hour walk into the nearest town with no podcast to listen to. Plenty of time to think.

Now, whenever we have an opportunity to be alone with our thoughts, we instead choose to fill it with mindless chatter – social media, reading the news, or mindlessly watching a YouTube video.

The good news is that creating personal time isn’t too hard – you just need to do it.

Here are a few ways I take personal time:

  • Going for a walk with the dogs WITHOUT my phone
  • Eating by myself WITHOUT watching my phone or trying to do something else
  • Stretching on my own while listening to jazz
  • Cooking by myself with a recipe I know by heart

As you can see, much of my personal time involves activities that I would do even if I didn’t enjoy doing them. I turn them into an opportunity for personal time though, and that makes me enjoy them way more than I would if I viewed from the perspective of it being a chore.

Try to take personal time for yourself at least 15 minutes per day. I think you’ll be surprised relaxing, breathing deeply, and allowing your mind to process what you’re thinking will do for your wellness.


Now on to what’s going on this week…

Fitness focus: Squats!
In case you haven’t been paying attention any the MFY website, YouTube, Facebook, or Instagram, the Man Flow Yoga Squat Challenge started on Monday, January 8, and I have been recording new squat variations daily for it. I’ve also been practicing squat more often, sitting in it longer than usual, and just generally trying to feel more comfortable in it. If sitting is the new smoking, and standing is the new sitting, then try squats.

Music I’m listening to: John Coltrane
Listen to John Coltrane, and then try listening to a pop song. It doesn’t even come close.

Product I’m enjoying: Vyper 2.0
This thing is just incredible. A 45 minute foam rolling session now takes just 10 minutes using this. Vibrating foam rollers are here to stay!

Book I’m reading: Good to Great
I just finished reading this one, but I feel the need to list it here because it’s such an incredible book. If you’re involved in business of any kind, you need to read Good to Great as soon as possible. Simple, practical, and easy to apply concepts.

Personal Struggle: Wasting time on social media.
I find myself getting sucked into a black hole of social media if I’m not focused enough on what I’m doing. Usually this happens when I have too many things to do, and haven’t chosen just one thing to do. When I’m focused on a single purpose, it’s much easier to avoid distractions. Give me 1 enormous task instead of 4 tiny things on a to-do list any day.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s edition of Off the Mat! Thank you for reading.

PS – We’re on Week 4 of Be The Better You. If you’ve watched one or more of the lessons and have enjoyed what you’ve seen so far, join me on for Week 4 of Be The Better You: Building Your Wellness Program.

PPS – Looking for workouts? We just released the first half of one of the most popular workouts from the Members’ Area, the 20-Minute Nighttime Routine, on the MFY blog. Check out the workout section of the blog by clicking here.


If you liked this email and want to read more like it, click the button below to sign up for my Off the Mat with Dean newsletter.

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It’s a chance for you to see me putting into action the practices and habits that I’m asking you to do for yourself, to show you that what I’m talking about in my emails, blogs, and on social media is exactly the same stuff that I’m doing on a daily basis in my own life.

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