Perspective in 30 seconds

The following is my favourite fable. I can't recall where I read it first but I came across it last week once more on Derek Sivers site.

It's short. It's good. It helped me improve how I think about things which changed my life for the better.

Enjoy :) 

(塞翁失马)

A farmer had only one horse. One day, his horse ran away.

His neighbors said, “I'm so sorry. This is such bad news. You must be so upset.”

The man just said, “We'll see.”

A few days later, his horse came back with twenty wild horses following. The man and his son corralled all 21 horses.

His neighbors said, “Congratulations! This is such good news. You must be so happy!”

The man just said, “We'll see.”

One of the wild horses kicked the man's only son, breaking both his legs.

His neighbors said, “I'm so sorry. This is such bad news. You must be so upset.”

The man just said, “We'll see.”

The country went to war, and every able-bodied young man was drafted to fight. The war was terrible and killed every young man, but the farmer's son was spared, since his broken legs prevented him from being drafted.

His neighbors said, “Congratulations! This is such good news. You must be so happy!”

The man just said, “We'll see.”

NY State of Mind

If perfection is a photograph, rebalance is a movie.

I was asked to sum up what I learned in 2015 that I could pass on to people for 2016. When I thought about it there was this one thing that stuck out like a sore thumb throughout the year - a common thing we all share.

In a year where we preached and practiced individualizing and tailoring at AM Fitness and devoted ALL of our energy to finding the best ways we could to get people back their strength and freedom, I am here knowing still that they are just methods and that if there is no principle or understanding behind the methods then any change made will be limited change. Something may change but someone won't.

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Everyone talks about Balance; finding balance, as if that was it; Once you have found balance then you are sorted for life.

By it's nature that is a goal-oriented thought process - not a process at all, then, just a goal.

The thing about balance is, though... that it's relatively unattainable. At best it is fleeting if achieved because the only time we are truly statically balanced... is when we are dead.

That unveils our principle for 2016 (and hopefully for ever after), which is:

Life is not about balance. Life is about Rebalance.

Like a decent punch, life is not about stopping to admire your work, it is about staying moving before you get hit back. It is being able to adapt if you do get hit. Fuck it... it is about stepping in the ring to begin with to live it up instead of watching from your comfy couch!

If you choose to think this way then you can almost instantly change everything about your life. One simple reframing, change of attitude and acceptance of reality can alter how you work and why, how to help your relationships thrive and what 'fitness' you choose, be it CrossFit, Yoga, Movement, Martial Arts or Dance. It can help everything. 

When you choose to understand that it will never be there: the time where you are just blissfully floating in money, health, love, mind, body and soul, then you will embrace the fact that every day is an opportunity to enjoy a life you shape and reshape, a life where up and down is the most natural thing in the world and where round and round is something you are aiming for.

It also presents you with another reality

Are you able to rebalance?

When life goes one way are you strong, agile, smart, alert, connected and passionate enough to bring it back to the middle?  Have you the support network and communication skills to ask for help?

Rebalance is the big picture - it IS the process.

Goals are milestones, not finish lines, and if you are only as strong as your weakest link then we should all agree to embrace the terms spent on strengthening weak points to become a stronger generalist, a stronger human...

...without losing sight of the fact that your daily process of EAT, MOVE, SLEEP, DRINK, THINK should heal and grow your EMOTION, SOCIAL, PHYSICAL AND SPIRIT over the long term. The things you choose should move you closer to your natural state and not further from any issues you have that need to be addressed.

For any person at any given time of their life it can be absolutely anything that can feed the above and it is not for us to say who does it better or not, or what the 'right thing to do' is - all I know is that everyone has their own life to live and that even in my own experience lifting weights helped WHEN I did it. Fighting & Competing helped, WHEN I needed it. Taking a break from everything helped, WHEN I needed it... etc etc etc
(Of course most of my days over the last 3 years have been spent undoing the badness that lifting weights and fighting have done to me, but that's a topic for another day - they were EXACTLY what I needed when I was doing them both and I would not be who I am without having done them.)

This is written with love in mind, love and happiness. We all want it, so this is the best I can offer you in terms of advice from what I have learned.

Go where your instinct leads you, but do it with good intention: put your happiness first.

'The idea behind the work is more important than the work itself. Once you have your mind right, the work becomes a joy' -  The E-Myth

As AM Fitness evolves, what we do becomes easier to put into words. We are here to facilitate growth, to offer a process that gives Freedom, Confidence and Happiness to each and every single person who walks through our doors. It starts with Movement of course, but as our relationship with each person develops we have found ourselves able to offer much more than fitness. We truly believe in people being the determining factor of quality of life. And so we are thankful that so many of you are in our lives each day.

Sin é

Thank you and Happy New Year

Andy

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Thank you!

Wellfest 2015 - Play

After a very successful Wellfest yesterday and a very enjoyable workshop we would like to say thank you to @wellfestirl for inviting us today to host a Movement Workshop.

With the overall theme of Wellfest being Health & Wellness we chose to do a class we called Play.

We used the class to (re)introduce people to touch, eye contact, partnered interaction games and non-linear movement outside of the 'safe' ideas of neutral spine and tracking knees that don't exist in real world context.

Breaking it down into what we wanted beyond this... we wanted non-stop laughter for 45 minutes. We got exactly that! Job done!

Barefoot.

Social.

Enjoyable.

Beneficial.

Different.

Our aim at AM Fitness is the help each person who walks through our doors to return the happiest, healthiest, most centred person they can be.

Bringing awareness to how training can be Play is a start. We did okay as kids without sets and reps, right?

Of course we damm sure use structure, barbells, gymnastic rings and linear movements as part of our thing... but it is on the road to doing more in line with how we can move eventually.

Again a huge thanks to Wellfest, Anthony Kelly at Glofox and Dara O' Boyle at CrossFit Fifteen for the invite. Well done to all our friends who held talks and workshops today, Naomi of Elements Yoga, Sarah of The Better Life Project, Darren of Tallght TRX/Kickstart Fitness,

I am sure Wellfest 2016 will be a Monster next year!! Tip of the cap, lads!

And of course thanks to my ever supportive love, Hele, for assisting me yesterday! ❤

You can get in touch here to enquire about membership at our Movement Studio in Terenure, Handstand class, Movement Therapy, One-to-One, or to enquire about a Workshop in your facility.  

Thank you ALL as always for your support

Andy Myers

Owner/Movement Coach

AM Fitness

085 7133475

Worrier to Warrior talk - Guest speaker Tony Riddle at AM Fitness

We are pleased to announce that we have the pleasure of hosting Tony Riddle this September 12th for a Worrier to Warrior talk. The talk is free and will be 2 hours there or thereabouts. Numbers are limited to 20 people so your place must be reserved(see below)

From my perspective, this talk is for all adults who are looking to learn about the big picture of health. An eye opener to some. Complimentary to others. Worthwhile for all for certain. Tony presents a philosophy he has spent years developing(and continues to do so), one rooted in nature. The words below are from Tony.

Andy

A Wise Move - From Worrier to Warrior:

Some suggest optimal health is achieved with good food and  sufficient exercise. 

Most acknowledge it’s likely to be a combination of these elements. 

But what about all our needs, Physically, socially and spiritually, aren’t they what really contribute to a healthy, happy and complete organism. 

With this two hour talk Tony Riddle will help you to find your pieces to this complex puzzle, enabling you for future growth.

My name is Tony Riddle; husband and proud father of two daughters. My daughters are my own inspiration and my responsibility. I want them to absorb natural information, to nurture them, and help them survive, thrive and flourish.  At the very beginning of life they had natural births, were carried in slings and not car seats, they had breast milk not farmed industrialised formula. They sleep in our bed (co-sleeping). When they learnt to eat, we followed the idea that they should learn texture and colour and develop enzymes. Now they only eat good organic food that we trust from a good source and meats that are either wild or grass fed. We ditched the sofa and adopted ground living to encourage a solid foundation and keep their movement pure. They have spent all their lives either barefoot or wearing Barefoot footwear. They avoided sitting in the classroom for hours upon end and are now flourishing beautifully with the un-schooling philosophy.  As they are growing, my hunger for knowledge is growing too. As their tribal elder I am developing a more refined filter in how and what to teach them. 

I have spent many years refining my filter.  I have been gaining knowledge from my teachers and wisdom from my own experiences.  In searching for the truth to develop and communicate a system of coaching to enable us interdependently to grow as one, I arrived at an understanding of what my true quest is; to transform Worriers into Warriors by keeping what should come natural to us natural, what is compromised returned back to, or as close to nature as can be, to enable, and to support future growth. 

Through this philosophy I have helped many of all abilities and ages discover their true capabilities, resulting in strong, healthy, positive, mindful and connected people, who are now responsible and can communicate that same message for future growth. My quest to transform Worriers into Warriors now has a home at 42 acres. Combining this developed philosophy for optimal health; physically, socially and spiritually with the strong sense of community, great transitions towards growth will be made.

So far my approach has taken all of my life to sculpt and has been an amalgamation of techniques from working with great teachers, shamans, imaginative minds and exploratory play.

To book your place on this free 2 hour talk simply email tony@42acres.com or andy@amfitness.ie

You can find out more about Tony at

tonyriddle com