The Yielding Warrior Reveals Ancient Secrets for Meditative Arts for Modern Success with Jeff Patterson

Are you ready to discover the transformative power of yielding in meditative arts? In this enlightening episode, I sit down with Jeff Patterson, a seasoned practitioner with over 36 years of experience in teaching and practicing meditative and martial arts. Jeff shares his inspiring journey from a modest upbringing to becoming a respected instructor and founder of several influential organizations.

We explore the concept of yielding and its profound impact on personal growth, stress management, and overall well-being. Jeff reveals the three key considerations for starting a successful meditation practice and breaks down the five essential regulations that form the foundation of any meditative art.

Key Takeaways:

• The importance of consistency and having a clear “why” in your meditation practice
• How to navigate the noise surrounding meditation and find the right approach for you
• The power of yielding in physical, mental, and emotional contexts
• Practical strategies for integrating meditative arts into your daily life

Unveiling the Five Regulations

Jeff explains the crucial elements that underpin all meditative practices:

• Regulating the body
• Regulating the breath
• Regulating the mind
• Regulating the energy
• Regulating the spirit

Learn how these regulations work together to create a balanced and focused approach to life’s challenges.

The Art of Yielding

Discover how the concept of yielding can revolutionize your interactions and decision-making processes. Jeff illustrates:

• Physical yielding for efficient movement
• Mental yielding for improved communication
• Emotional yielding for better self-regulation

This conversation is packed with practical wisdom for anyone looking to enhance their personal growth, manage stress more effectively, or simply find more balance in their daily life. Whether you’re a seasoned meditation practitioner or a curious beginner, you’ll find valuable insights to help you on your journey.
Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from Jeff’s wealth of experience and start incorporating the power of yielding into your life. Tune in now and take the first step towards a more centered, purposeful existence!

Connect with Jeff Patterson:

Website: https://theyieldingwarrior.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TaichiYielding/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theyieldingwarrior/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-patterson-b691819/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIzitJZ8CLWysspfvgtMZbw
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theyieldingwarrior

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Website: https://giveaheck.com (Free Book Offer)

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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dwight.heck

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Giveaheck

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@giveaheck

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dwight-heck-65a90150/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@giveaheck
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Chapter Summaries(Full Unedited Transcript follows)

00:00:02
Introduction to Jeff Patterson: Meditation and Martial Arts Expert
Jeff Patterson, founder of Northwest Fighting Arts and Portland Tai Chi Academy, shares his 36 years of experience in meditative and martial arts. He discusses the transformative power of these practices, particularly the concept of yielding, and his journey from humble beginnings to becoming a respected teacher and author.

00:01:32
Jeff Patterson’s Origin Story: From Marine Corps to Martial Arts
Jeff shares his journey from a modest upbringing to joining the Marine Corps and discovering martial arts. He recounts a pivotal moment when a respected boxing coach advised him to practice meditation and Tai Chi, leading to a lifelong passion for meditative arts and their transformative power.

00:05:29
The Evolution of Meditation Acceptance and Personal Support
Jeff discusses how meditation has become more widely accepted since the 1990s due to scientific studies. He reflects on the support he received from those around him and the challenges of starting a martial arts academy, emphasizing the importance of perseverance in pursuing one’s passion.

00:08:10
The Power of Tenacity in Business and Personal Growth
The conversation shifts to the importance of tenacity in business and personal growth. Jeff and the host discuss the challenges of entrepreneurship, the value of persistence, and the rewards of following one’s passion, even when faced with skepticism from others.

00:11:23
The Importance of Consistency in Meditation Practice
Jeff emphasizes the significance of consistency in meditation practice and offers three key considerations for beginners: understanding personal motivation, recognizing the value of consistency, and finding a guide. He shares a powerful story about a stonecutter to illustrate the importance of persistent effort.

00:22:06
The Five Directions and Regulations of Meditative Arts
Jeff explains the five directions of meditative arts practice and the five underlying principles or “regulations”: body, breath, mind, energy, and spirit. He provides detailed insights into each regulation and how they contribute to overall well-being and personal growth through meditation.

00:34:36
Personalized Approach to Meditation and Its Benefits
Jeff discusses the importance of having a good guide in meditation practice and how he tailors his teaching to each individual student. He emphasizes the flexibility of meditative arts in addressing various personal needs and goals, highlighting the potential for creating a personalized, effective practice.

00:42:08
The Impact of Writing and Teaching Meditation
Jeff reflects on how writing books and creating instructional content has deepened his understanding of meditation. He shares a recent example of how his work has positively impacted a firefighter’s ability to handle challenging situations. Jeff then explains the concept of yielding in physical, mental, and emotional contexts.

00:49:05
Closing Thoughts on Personal Growth and Authenticity
In his closing message, Jeff emphasizes the importance of staying connected to one’s core values and authentic self. He encourages listeners to look beyond the surface and strive for genuine self-awareness, suggesting that this approach leads to greater personal contentment and improved relationships with others.

Full Unedited Transcript:

[00:00:02 – 00:00:50]
Good day and welcome to Give A Heck on today’s show, I welcome Jeff Patterson. Jeff from Portland, Oregon has over 36 years of experience practicing and teaching the meditative and martial arts as a founder of Northwest Fighting Arts, Portland Tai Chi Academy and the Yielding Warrior where he empathizes and the transformative power of meditative and martial arts practices, particularly the yielding concept. He has published two books and hundreds on instructional videos, founder of the Yielding Warrior online program and has worked with thousands of students from around the world. I’d like to welcome you to the show, Jeff. Thanks so much for agreeing to come on and share with us some of your life journey.

[00:00:51 – 00:00:53]
Hey, thank you very much for having me here.

[00:00:53 – 00:01:31]
Yeah, thanks for coming on. I appreciate you reaching out. So Jeff, one of the things that I start off, as I mentioned before I hit record, my listeners and, and viewers are they’re used to it, a person sharing their origin story and actually being able to connect with that individual somewhere within their life story. Somebody will connect to you and it’ll make it so that they want to continue to listen and be engaged in regards to our conversation. So do me a favor, Jeff, please tell me your origin story. Key things from your childhood to your adulthood to where you’re at currently.

[00:01:32 – 00:04:32]
Yeah, so, you know, I was brought up with very modest means in a single parent family and didn’t really have much resources as a kid growing up. And I always had my grandpa as a kid telling me, you know, you can do anything, just believe in yourself. You know, always, always had that in the back of my mind. And so I knew that when I was a teenager that I had to get out of the small town I grew up in. And so I joined the Marine Corps. And going through the Marine Corps, you know, I just started martial arts a little bit prior to the Marine Corps and really resonated with the training and, and enjoyed it. I continued through the Marine Corps with martial arts training and really started getting into western boxing. And then I moved up here to Portland in 90 or 91 and I was going to a boxing gym just not too far down the street here from my academy. And at a boxing gym, for those of you that aren’t familiar, they’re run a lot different than your traditional style fitness class where there’s an instructor with a group of students. Usually at a boxing school or academy, there is three or four coaches rolling around and each one of those coaches might have a handful of fighters that they’re working with. Well, at this one particular gym, one of the coaches was A very well known coach, he had created champions at both the amateur and the professional level. And I really wanted to get to spend some time with him, but he wasn’t taking on any extra athletes. He was pretty, had a pretty full schedule and so I would always show up at the gym when I knew he was going to be there. I’d work hard and try to get him to notice me a little bit. And after following him around for about three or four months, he finally started giving me some tips and helping me out a little bit with my training. And it was only maybe two or three weeks of getting to work with him when he said something to me that changed my life forever and that he said, you know, if you really want to be a good boxer, you should start doing meditation in Tai chi. Now at the time I’m this 19, 20 year old kid thinking, man, isn’t that for like old people in the park? You know, how’s that going to help me be a better fighter? And I, I had a lot of respect for him. I started doing the practice and through the years it’s changed my life in so many ways. And you know, I’ve been very fortunate here at my academy. I’ve had over almost 30,000 students come through the academy and on my online programs, thousands more. And I’ve heard literally hundreds of stories of how the meditative arts has positively influenced people’s lives. And that’s what’s made me so passionate about trying to get this message out there. It’s why I’ve written my last few books and just kind of given me the motivation to get this out there to you guys.

[00:04:32 – 00:05:28]
Wow, that’s. Excuse me, that’s amazing. Origin. When you think about an individual telling you something and in your mindset you’re focused on, he’s going to tell you to be more aggressive, he’s going to tell you to do different things that are going to heighten your level of, you know, superiority. I guess when you’re, when you’re fighting to think tougher, to think meaner, and he’s telling you to go and meditate and do Chai chi, that, that, that was the universe. For me, it would be God, but that would be the universe coming to you and saying, hey, we’re going to give this, this young dude at 19 a little push to, to make it so that he can be the best version of himself. How did your, how did your people around you take that when you explained to them that you wanted to look into Tai chi and the martial arts In a different fashion, were you supported by people or did you get some flack?

[00:05:29 – 00:05:58]
You know, for the most part, I was supported. However, back in, you know, the early 90s, meditation wasn’t as common as it is today, and there wasn’t quite as many people that were open to it nowadays. There’s been so many scientific studies and it’s so much more well known everywhere of all the benefits of the practice that it’s a lot more accepted. But for the most part, you know, everybody around me was pretty supportive.

[00:05:59 – 00:06:12]
Well, that’s, that’s good though. That. Did you have any one person that was your cheering section that give you guidance in, in doing, doing the processes to get where you are?

[00:06:13 – 00:08:09]
You know, I’ve had a lot of great teachers through the years. I’ve spent my entire career seeking out the best teachers I could find. You know, I’ve. I’ve traveled around the world many times and trained with teachers all over the world. And one thing that always sticks in my mind and what kind of put me on this path to running a martial arts academy and teaching the meditative and martial arts is that same boxing coach. He once told me that you want to create a life and not make a living. And that always stuck in my head because I was the first kid in my whole extended family to go through college and I got two degrees in less than four years. I worked pretty hard and everybody thought I was going to go out and get some big job and do something important, you know, and I ended up following the instructor path and running an academy and. And in the beginning, a lot of my family were saying, you know, when are you going to go get a real job? When are you going to do something, you know, with your life? And they didn’t really see it. And it was a struggle in the beginning, you know, starting up any business from scratch. It was six to eight years before it started turning into something that was, you know, respectable from a financial standpoint. And, you know, many times I thought, man, why? What’s going on? Am I going to make it? You know, I, I was in debt over my head and all of these things were coming up and I was just trying to figure out the business side of it because that wasn’t. Wasn’t there for me. I didn’t have as much guidance on that side. And once I did and I got that rolling, you know, it’s ended up in the long run, paying out way more than it probably would have if I would have followed a professional career. So I feel very fortunate to have had this passion in my life come into my life’s work.

[00:08:10 – 00:11:21]
Wow, I love that. Your passion, your passion equals to me, tenacity. That’s one thing that people don’t realize. Many people don’t understand. I find tenacity to be a superpower because six, eight years in a business, a lot of people would have just packed it in, they wouldn’t have been able to continue to push forward. And I say that with experience. You know, going into my 23rd year in the financial industry as a planner, I’ve dealt with lots of businesses that we sit down and you can see already that there’s no hope. And other ones, you can see that they’re, they’re teetering on a teeter totter. And we’ll tell, and I’ll tell them like, you know what, what could happen in 90 days, six months, one year, right? You’ve struggled already this long. Don’t give up. Like, we’ve got your, we’ve got your numbers and we’ve got your goals. We know exactly where you’re at. Yes, you’re still not seeing that reward that you’re envisioned six years ago, eight years ago. But you know, at the end of the day, your tenacity is going to be your superpower and you’re going to achieve things, great things, because your product, your market, your service needs is needed. We just need to keep on going. And you’re going to have that, that firecracker moment, right, where you’re not firecracker fireworks, part of me moment where you’re just going to be going like, wow, I just quit. Right? And I heard that time and time again from business owners that are now very, very successful. I thought at one point in time in my industry I’d be lying if I said I didn’t, that I was gonna quit in the first five, 10 years, you know, I was doing okay, but not where I thought and people like yourself had as well. When are you gonna go and get a real job? Why are you doing this on yourself? Well, you know, they’re gonna have to worry about paying you. You’ll have benefits, you’ll have vacation, you’ll have all these things that they try to attract you to be that worker. And I’m not here to cut down workers. I’m here to say that some people have the tenacity and deserve to be self employed entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, whatever you want to call them, please just support your family, your friends that are trying to work at things. Don’t criticize them. Give them that leg up to make it so that they can be successful. But I find that’s a theme from all the different people I’ve interviewed, my own clients. Tenacity is something that you just, you just can’t quit. No matter what people say, you’re gonna, you’re gonna get it, you’re gonna achieve your goals. So that’s good to hear. And I appreciate you sharing that about your journey and keeping it going. Like, look where you are now. 15 employees, 30,000 people. You, you said you had helped. Then you add on top of that, the external stuff you’re doing online order to ensure that people can be helped anywhere in the world. That is, that is amazing. So congratulations on all your hard work. I look forward to continuing on our conversation and seeing where this rest is going to go and also following your journey now that we’ve become new friends, hopefully.

[00:11:23 – 00:12:23]
Yeah, yeah, I look forward to continuing the conversation as well. I hope that maybe through the conversation, for those that are listening out there, we can offer some help and guidance into finding ways to maybe integrate some of these meditative practices into their life and give them some tips. So you know that one of the things that I’ve heard through the years so often is that people, they’ll try meditation or they’ll do this, or they’ll, they’ll do different things to be introduced to it, but it never sticks or they feel like they’re failing and they’re not getting it. And I think when we can pre frame that mindset and get them in the, the right place to approach the practice, they’re so much more likely to be successful. And so that’s kind of my goal with our conversation today is if we can go out there and influence one person to adapt this into their life and see the many fruits that will come from the practice, then, then we’re doing good.

[00:12:23 – 00:14:04]
Oh, I love you saying that. And I was just thinking about, as you were saying that we need to dial down the noise because one of the things I put in for the, that I really wanted to discuss in the conversation is there’s so much noise around meditation, even Tai Chi, honestly, for those listening or watching, those that have, I’ve talked about in other episodes, I’ve thought about Tai Chi and you know, years ago it was always considered that old person’s thing. Why are they doing, you know, why would you want to do that? Or meditation? There was, you know, the noise has gotten so crazy online especially, you see so much in social media or the emails, you know, try this app for 30 days, 90 days, 100 days. Oh, come, come watch my YouTube channel. We’re going to teach you how to meditate. And I’m not saying any of that is bad. I don’t want people to think I’m saying any of that’s bad. But how do you cut through all that noise to know where to start and have a successful start? Because so many people, and this isn’t a crit criticize people. We have a weak mindset. We start something, we buy a course, we start a project, we quit, we don’t make it. To get past that initial hurdle, what would be your input in regards to all the noise out there in regards to meditation and stuff like Tai Chi, how would a person dive into it in a very, you know, not cautious, but in a way where they can not fail? Is there a way around all this failure that I hear from clients and friends and family when it comes to meditation?

[00:14:05 – 00:22:05]
Yeah. You know, for being a teacher for over 30 years, one of my biggest challenges is getting people to understand the benefits of a consistent practice so they can reap all the rewards from their efforts. And, you know, that’s why, you know, I’ve been very fortunate to have some students that stick around 20, 30 years here at the academy. And. And, you know, it’s. If the better that I can get at connecting with them and showing them the value in this practice, then the more likely they are to make it a way of life. And that’s the whole goal of this practice, is to use the meditative arts to create an evolving life practice that becomes who we are and how we live, rather than some chore hobby, or that we do once in a while. And I’ve come up through the years with three considerations that I find that if people put some thought into when they’re beginning a practice, or maybe if even if they’ve been doing it for a while, but they’re not really consistent. If they put a little bit of effort into these three things, three directions, that they’re a lot more likely to be consistent and successful with the practice. And the first one is, why are you being drawn to a meditation practice? What benefits do you want to get? Do you want to stay healthy into your later years to watch your grandkids grow up? Or are you dealing with a stress disorder? Or maybe you have a health issue, or. Or maybe you’re an athlete and you’re looking to improve your performance, whatever that is for you, find out why you’re going in this direction. And then if you were to accomplish that goal and you make this part of your life and this is the journey you’re on. Think about 10 or 20 things that will be positively influenced by you accomplishing this goal, to give it a little bit of substance. And then I want them to flip the coin. And if they don’t accomplish this and they keep on the path that they’re on, what are 10 or 20 negative things that will influence their life? And what this does is it helps give us fuel because, you know, we’re all human. There’s going to be the days where the alarm goes off and it’s time to get up and do our practice and we want to hit the snooze button and do it tomorrow. But if we have this reason to get up and we know that this is, we’re receiving all of these benefits from this practice and we get excited about it and we quit looking at it like a chore. Now we start making it part of who we are. The second thing that you want to spend a little bit of time understanding is the idea of consistency and the value and consistency, because without that, it starts becoming like a hobby. And we want it to be a way of life. And there’s this old Chinese story that really illustrates this idea well. And it’s about this old stone cutter who was very well known all over China. And he made these beautiful sculptures of animals and landscapes. And his work was so unique and so detailed that anytime somebody saw one of his pieces, they just knew it was his, because nobody else was even on the same level. Because of this reputation he had, he had people from all over the country coming to stay with him and apprentice with him to learn the trade. Well, every day this old stonecutter would start off his day by going down to the river and meditating. And one day after his meditation session, he’s walking along the river and he has this profound vision of this big six foot tall, mystical Chinese jade dragon. And he’s so taken by this vision that he just knew it had to be his next project. So he spent the next few months traveling all over the area looking for this perfect stone for his new creation. Finally, when he found it, he brought it back to his place and he spent the next period of time just sitting with the stone and studying it and try to feeling the energy coming from the stone and envisioning how this dragon would soon appear. Once he began working on the stone, he carefully placed his chisel on one specific place on the back side of the rock and started tapping away with his hammer, hundreds, if not thousands of times a day, same place over and over again, nothing was changing. A few more days went by and his apprentices started wondering, maybe you should try something else. They started second guessing him. A few more days went by and still nothing. Finally, he taps the stone in this big three foot section, comes off the backside of the rock and creates this slightly curved smooth line. And one of his apprentices who was watching said, how did you know that that strike was going to break the stone? And the stone cutter replied, it wasn’t that strike that broke the stone, it was the thousands of strikes before it that broke the stone. And with a bit of a discouraged tone on his voice, the apprentice said, but I’ve been watching you. And there was no change, not even a crack in the stone. Why didn’t you try something different? Why did you keep doing the same thing? And the stone cutter got down on one knee and he felt the smooth line that he just created. And he said, each strike was not wasted. The stone was changing beneath the surface. And even though we couldn’t see it with the naked eye through our consistency in our effort and the repetition, not only was a stone changing, but so was the one who wields the hammer. And the reason why this story is so valuable to me is that it illustrates the exact same idea as the meditative arts. We’re practicing these breathing strategies, these movement practices, studying these philosophical concepts. And we don’t always see the change happening day to day, but it’s through this consistent effort and this foundation that we’re laying that we lay the grounds for these fruits to benefit us for the rest of our lives. And so having that understanding that when we approach this practice, that this is where all the true value is at, is very essential. And then the third and final consideration is making sure that you have a guide to help you along the path. You know, there’s a, a million videos out there on YouTube that you could go find. And if you think that you’re going to be self taught in a practice like this, you know, I’ve been studying for 36 years and I’m still just a student learning all the time. But if you think you’re going to go weed through all of that stuff and get any kind of depth in your practice, you’re going going to waste a lot of time. And in fact, I’ve had students come in here to the academy who have been self taught and they’ve been training diligently for 10, sometimes 15 years. And they’ll See somebody who’s only been under guidance for six or 12 months, and they’re deeper into the practice than they are, you know, and our lives are short. Your time is valuable. Finding somebody who can help you down the right path is not that difficult. And so if you do those three things, you really put some heartfelt thought into your. Why understand the importance of consistency and have somebody in your corner to help point you down the right direction? It really will increase your chances of being successful with the practice and also get you to where you’re reaping the benefits a lot sooner.

[00:22:06 – 00:23:13]
Wow. How do we unpack all that in such a short period of time? Those watching or listening rewind and listen to all three of those, regardless of how Jeff stated them. And what an amazing story. I had heard something similar to that, not as in detail. You’re a great storyteller, by the way. So when you were talking about striking that stone and the results of everything happening beneath it should strike anybody that’s listening. And that’s what life is. We don’t know what’s going on around the corner. We don’t know all our efforts are happening, but we, we. We have a very narrow ability to see what’s going on and, and all of a sudden it happens. Right. But it was all the effort up to that point. So I really appreciate that those three points are very valuable and, and helping people not quit. Just be consistent. One of the things I wear, you can see.

[00:23:13 – 00:23:15]
Oh, great. Nice.

[00:23:15 – 00:24:06]
For those that are listening, I’ve got a bracelet on that says consistency. This is from one of my good friends. I’ve wore this now for five years. Right. Consistency. 365 days. Driven. And that’s, that’s the brand of my friend Tony. And I see this so many times. I’ll be going like this. I’ll be on a call with a client because I do a lot of stuff on Zoom and I’ll see that consistency word. Or I’ve had people say, hey, what are you wearing? All right, It’s, it’s, it’s just a reminder. And, And I’m. It’s okay to need reminders. Like you said, even as we progress in life, we still have to continue to be driven. We need to be reminded of, like you said, you, You’re. You’re still. How many years did you say you were in again, Jeff, into the meditative arts, and you’re still a student.

[00:24:06 – 00:24:10]
I’ve been studying the meditative arts for 36 years, and you’re still a student.

[00:24:10 – 00:26:12]
How many People, again, meditative arts is designed to make it so you don’t. You’re going to be calm about it. But how many people on the negative side with a negative ego would be like, look at me, I’m the best. I’m not. I don’t need to continue to learn. Like, I’ve forgotten more than you know. Right. You get that kind of attitude and you’re very calm about it. I really enjoying this because I can see it within your face. Those that are listening, obviously you can’t. But he’s very calm and relaxed. He’s good at storytelling and sharing his point. And then giving you those three nuggets of fantastic information for you to just. You can attack anything using those three, in my opinion. Right. It doesn’t mean that something might not be your stick. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t. If you’re doing something and it’s not feeling right, it’s just not going to feel right, then go to the. Go to something that’s feeling right. Maybe you made the wrong choice. And what you’re trying to aspire to do better at or to create or to, you know, facilitate. So I really appreciate that. One of the things I wanted to talk about is because there is such a misconception in regards to Tai Chi and Qi gun. I think that’s how you pronounce it. Yes. Thank you. And how they tie into meditation. How do these. Obviously, Tai Chi is meditative, and so is. Sorry, I apologize. I practice. I practiced it even before we went onto the podcast because I’m very kind of a, you know, meticulous, analytical guy being finance. So how do these tie together in. In meditation? Like, I know they are meditative, but how do they tie together in regards to the traditional meditation that most people think about, where you’re on the ground or wherever. And, and. And is there a better place to meditate besides the traditional way of thinking where you’re on a mat on the ground? Lots. Lots of unpacked.

[00:26:12 – 00:26:14]
Yeah, sorry. Yeah, no, that’s good.

[00:26:14 – 00:26:14]
I.

[00:26:14 – 00:34:31]
There’s a. There’s a few things I’d like to respond to that with. And the first one is with the meditative arts, there’s five directions of the practice. You know, we have people who study the practices for their performance enhancement, athletes and different kinds of performers that help them focus and be more in tune with their body and their energies and. And how they present them. There’s the therapeutic side of the practice, which is good for longevity and our overall health. There’s the medical side, the philosophical side, which is one of the things that I’ve always been very passionate about. I love how it expands your peripheral vision and helps you see things from multiple angles. Then there’s the meditative and spiritual side. Once you have a direction, then there’s many different modalities and ways that we can follow that path. We do that with movement practices like Tai chi and qigong and yoga, we do that with sitting practices, we do that with breath work, we do that with standing meditation, we do that with our philosophical concepts and the things that we study with the practice. But underneath all of that, there’s these five underlying principles of any meditation practice that’s very important to understand. And I call these the five regulations. And these are regulating the body, regulating the breath, regulating the mind, regulating the energy, and regulating the spirit. And briefly, I’ll touch on what I mean by these five regulations. So regulating the body is usually where we begin in a meditation practice, because it’s where we can see the most change immediately with our efforts. And the basic idea is our skeletal alignment and our muscular tension and relaxation in the body. And an example would be think about a time when maybe you’re sitting down at your computer for three or four hours, shoulders are rounded forward, you’re feeling lethargic, maybe your neck’s getting stiff. And then another time when the most important person in your world walks in the room and your body perks up and you feel like you’re on top of the world. Well, these two different energetic states, we’re in 100% control of all day, every day. And understanding how to regulate this is part of our meditation journey. And on a little bit of a deeper level of the body regulation is maintaining some kind of muscular development, some bit of flexibility so the body feels good and functions well, making sure that we’re eating healthy, nutrition and then also getting enough sleep. All of these categories would fit under that body regulation. Then we have regulating the breath. And regulating the breath is an extremely deep topic. And in fact, qigong is often referred to as the science of the breath because there’s literally hundreds of different breathing strategies. And we learn to use the breath to regulate our physical, mental and emotional well being. Now, because there’s so many different breathing strategies, we broadly categorize them into yin methods and Yang methods. Yin methods are often deeper, more holistic style of meditations that help us bring that energy inward. And they’re great for stress reduction, dealing with anxiety or panic attacks, or boosting your creativity. There’s lots of Reasons why we would do this yin side of the breath. Then there’s the yang side of the breath, which is more aggressive. It’s kind of like if you ever had to push your car, you pick up something heavy, your natural instinct is to exhale, put tension in the breath, maybe even make it audible. And this helps generate the energy and make it expansive. Now, once we understand how to use this breath strategically, we can use it to control our outcomes energetically. You know, everybody goes through the day with emotional ups and downs. Some people are like a roller coaster. Others may be a little more balanced. But when you start learning how to do these regulations and you see yourself starting to get excited, we can use the breath to help bring us back down. Or when you start feeling depleted, we can use the breath to bring us back up. And now we’re finding more balance throughout the day Rather than being so emotionally distracted. The third regulation is regulating the mind. And again, this is a lifelong practice, but the basic idea of it is, is when we get distracted. And one of the most common things I’ve heard people say through the years is that I’ve tried meditation, but I just couldn’t quiet my mind. It didn’t work for me. You know, somewhere along the way, people got this misguided idea that in order to be successful at meditation, you, have to reach this state of nirvana where nothing bothers you. And you couldn’t be further from the truth if you think this way. You know, the idea behind meditation is that if we’re sitting for 20 minutes or maybe doing a Tai Chi form for 20 minutes, we may get distracted 50 times during that session. But if every time we get distracted, we recognize that imbalance through our heightened awareness of the practice, we use the movement, our posture, our breath to come back to center. Now we just got 50 repetitions of being out of balance and coming back to center. And if you do this every day, every month, every year, you start to develop this power and this ability to be almost indestructible, where nothing can throw you off your game. You know, there’s this story about these two old monks, and they’re walking down this dirt road after a huge rainstorm, and they come up to this big mud puddle, and on the other side of the puddles, this beautiful little girl. And she’s standing there in a white dress, and she’s crying. And the older monk, he hollers across the puddle and says, is everything okay? Can we help you? And she says, I need to be somewhere, but if I walk across this Puddle, I’m going to get my dress all dirty. So he rolls up his pant legs, and he walks across the puddle, picks her up, puts her on his back, takes her to the other side, sets her down, and she’s off on her way. Well, him and the younger monk are walking a couple miles down the road, and finally, the younger monk is just furious, and he says, you know, we’re not supposed to touch girls, but you did back there at the puddle. And the older monk looks down and says, I left that girl back at the puddle. Why are you still carrying her around? And how many times in life do we have to get two miles down the muddy road before we realize we got to let this stuff go? And so regulating the mind is one of the foundational principles. And then the fourth one is regulating the energy. And this is an extremely deep topic and something that we could literally talk for hours about. But the basic idea is, is once we’ve reached a competent level in regulating the body, the breath, and the mind, we now have the tools to. To circulate the energy into the body, to lead it inward, to extend it outward, to get different outcomes. And so this is a very valuable part of our journey in the meditative arts. And then the fifth and final regulation is regulating the spirit. And this is something that all meditation practitioners will spend their entire life’s journey working towards is having that control and that ability to enliven the spirit, but at the same time, stay rooted and focused. And so you can see by understanding these basic five regulations that no matter what we do in life, the meditative arts can help us and give us the tools to approach it with a more even still mindset that helps us be more functionable and. And more productive in anything we do.

[00:34:32 – 00:34:36]
Yeah, like, excuse me. That was. That was great.

[00:34:36 – 00:34:36]
What you.

[00:34:36 – 00:36:36]
What you shared those five regulations. I actually had this written down here. Vote to make sure this was part of the conversation. So I appreciate you bringing that up. It’s. It’s structure, though. I like that. Because if we’re. If our minds are out of control or like our thought processes, our emotional regulation, everything’s just Helter Skelter all over the place. It’s nice that you have these processes and the ability to have these processes and then share stories that tie into that process is profound. Because I’ve had, like I said, 200. You’re going to be my 235th guest. I’ve had a few people on the show that talk about meditation, that it isn’t good for you to quiet your mind like that, or to get to a point where you’re regulated because you’re hiding stuff. And I’ve had all this negativity and I’ve been looking for somebody that is truly centered on the, on the, I don’t know if it’s right to call it an art, but you know, on a process or a lifestyle or whatever you want to call it, where you’ve got processes in place from those three things you talked about to figure it out so you don’t quit, to these five regulations. And then there’s also on top of that, that there’s, you know, I barely understand meditation and research and I’ve been very honest with you about it. And then you have the three types of meditation, your ritual, active and physiological. You know, like there’s so much more to it than I understood and you’ve already taught me so much just since I started researching it yesterday. And now having this conversation with you, can you please share? How does a person know what’s the best type of meditation for them? Does that come out through time of working with them or conversation or those, those three questions that you go over with them? How do you decide what is best for them or do they just figure it out?

[00:36:37 – 00:38:09]
Well, a big part of that is having a good guide, having somebody in your corner that can help you. Now, as a new practitioner, there’s some underlying principles with the meditative arts that you want to integrate and have as a foundation. And as we build, you know, any, anytime somebody new comes into the academy or my online programs, I always start them with some movement practices, some breath work, some still practices, some of these philosophical concepts that all help build that foundation. And then after they’ve put some time in and they understand what these things are doing, then we start kind of fine tuning and getting narrower and narrower down whatever path they’re following. And you know, I’ve, I’ve mentioned, I’ve had thousands of students, I have never once taught two students the exact same thing. And that’s one of the beautiful things about the meditative arts, is that you can pull these ritual practices, these active practices, these philosophical concepts, and build a life practice around things that resonate with you and help you with whatever it is that controls your physical, mental and emotional well being. And you start to learn how these things are used strategically and what the science behind them is so you can integrate the practices that are going to help you be the most effective for what you’re looking to do.

[00:38:10 – 00:42:06]
Wow. Purposeful life. The whole, the Whole drive behind me creating this podcast five years ago now, back in 2020, was to showcase and, you know, to help people that have done so much that are changing people. And you talk about one person at a time. And my whole intent is to help people live life on purpose, not by accident. That’s what my book was about. Well, still is a boat, you know, it hasn’t gone anywhere. But we go through life struggling with no intent. No, with no real intent or, or guide or mentorship or. Or principles to live by. We just have noise around us and we don’t know how to live purposefully. And it’s amazing. Like, I will cherish this conversation because of how much I’m learning to push me past that fear principle that’s held me back. Right. And I believe fear stands for face everything and rise, not. Not all the other acronyms. I mean, I believe if we’re fearful that it means we need to face it, we need to rise above it. And I get stuck just like lots of people do. I have these character building moments throughout my day. Like you mentioned about going up and people go up and down and I have things that are regulating it. And I always felt there was something missing. And the universe brought this conversation and you to me to help me. I’ll be that first person that you talk about wanting to help one person. I am deadly serious about it because I have those. I don’t ever have a bad day. I talk and coach about that for seven years now. I only have character building moments, but I want to be able to get outside of those character building moments sooner. And I understand that breath work very minimally, except for my apple watch reminding me, okay, it’s time to do your mindfulness. And it makes me breathe. But it’s more than most people do. Right. But there’s so much more I can learn. And to know that you’re still on your journey to learn that you’re still open and vulnerable about the fact that you know a lot, but you’re still. The mindfulness part of it is. Is a lifetime till you take your last breath is reassuring for me and I. And I hope it is for other people watching and listening. One last question, because I know we got to wrap up the show. Two last questions. Pardon me. One of them is going to be about your book. So I mentioned earlier too, I was wrong. You’ve published three books, correct? Yes, I originally said two. I apologize that including your latest the Yielding Warrior and hundreds of instructional videos like talk about somebody that’s serious about Wanting to change and help people to put in that effort. The amount of time you invested into those instructional videos and your books is. Most people don’t understand. I know myself writing my book and putting together workshops or doing videos to help people. It’s been really cathartic, especially the book experience. It helped me realize things that I had accomplished that I didn’t give myself credit for. Never, ever, you know, celebrated it, which is a wrong thing. Somebody can be driven and go from one thing to one thing to one thing, never reflecting on the journey or that positive experience and celebrating it. But I know when I wrote my book, it literally changed the way I looked at myself and certain experiences in my life. What was it like for you writing your book? Was it cathartic? Did you. Throughout the three processes, especially your latest book, how did it change you? How did it help you? Did it assist you in any way to look out for new information, do some more research, pat yourself on the back, maybe kick yourself in the pants and. And change something that you didn’t realize was a challenge?

[00:42:08 – 00:47:26]
You know, I think anytime we write or we create things, it helps us to look at it from multiple angles, which is always beneficial, not only in our own understanding, but so we can explain it better to other people. Because, you know, through teaching, through so many years, if I taught everybody the way that I learned it, I would be a horrible teacher. In order to be a good teacher, I’ve got to be able to teach it to five different people five different ways, because they understand it from different perspectives. And so I think when we write and we create things, it helps us start to look at it from different perspectives. And so that’s always been fun. And when you ask about what motivates you to put all that time in, you know, the biggest motivation for me is all of the amazing stories I’ve heard of the people that are doing the meditative arts and how it’s positively changed their lives. And in fact, just two days ago, I. I got this long email from somebody I met 30 years ago, and he reached out to me. He’s a firefighter. And he said, I just read your recent book, the Yielding Warrior, and first off, I just wanted to say thank you so much. And he said, it helped me deal with people on the job who have PTSD and who have mental disorders that we face all of the time, because I’m able to stay more focused and guide them into a positive direction with the best, with the least amount of resistance. And I’ve. He’s kind of Telling me a little bit about how he’s using that. And that’s one of the things with yielding that’s always been so powerful for me. And why it’s been such a valuable topic and why I wrote that last book is because yielding is an amazing concept. You know, there’s physical yielding, mental yielding, and emotional yielding. And physical yielding is the basic idea that I push you, you push me. Whoever’s a bigger, stronger person with the most leverage, eventually he’s going to push the other person over. But with yielding, instead of us trying to see who the bigger meathead is, when you push me, I get out of the way of that force, and now I can respond with less effort. So I’m not trying to butt heads with you and see if I’m bigger and stronger than you now. In order to be good at physical yielding, this is a lifetime journey. You need to be well rooted. The lower part of your body needs to be strong and flexible so you can change your central equilibrium without getting tight. The body has to be relaxed, the breath has to be calm, and the mind has to be present. But here’s the cool thing about this is when we start noticing those things inside of ourselves at a higher level from integrating meditative arts into our lives, we also start, excuse me, we also start seeing these things more clearly in other people. And this is where we start moving into mental yielding. So say, for example, you and I are having a conversation, and I say something that unsettles you, and I pick up on it right from that first sign of imbalance. It’s a lot easier at that point to adjust the conversation and keep us in a happy place than if I’m not paying attention to that, and pretty soon I’m so far off track you want to knock me upside the head. And so learning how to use yielding in all of our interactions is extremely powerful. One, we’re being more considerate, which is something we could all do more of. And two, it allows us to guide conversations to a positive outcome with the least amount of resistance. And then the third pillar of yielding is emotional yielding. And this is very much like mental yielding, but with our own interpersonal conflicts. So you think about, something happens to you, and you respond, and you go down this path, and you might get an hour, a day, a week down the road and realize maybe that wasn’t the best choice. But by adapting meditation into our lives and we’re able to notice these imbalances when they first happen, we’re often able to step back before we get too emotionally involved and make a more educated decision that saves us a lot of heartache on the other side. And, you know, I’ve been explaining this idea of the meditative arts now for many years. And one of the most common things I’ll hear people say is meditation makes a lot of sense in fact, or yielding makes a lot of sense in fact. I do that all the time. Well, I would agree in that I think everybody does some degree of yielding in their lives, whether they label it that or not. However, it’s kind of like if you or I were to walk into a crime scene with a detective who’s been on the job for 30 years, I guarantee you that person would see things about the series of events and the timeline that I know, at least I would have no clue of. And the meditative arts helps us see things inside of ourselves and inside of other people that I truly believe most people will go through life and never have any clue of without a practice like this in their life. And so this has always been a passion of mine, is studying, you know, this, this philosophical side of the practice. And you can see just by that brief idea on that one topic that the philosophical side of the meditative arts is very profound.

[00:47:27 – 00:48:20]
Wow. There’s so much that we can continue to talk, but we’re coming up on the hour. I’m gonna have to have you on again because there’s so much more that we could discuss and unpack. But for now, those listening or watching, this is a great start for you. Listen to the podcast again. Excuse me. And you as well, go into the show notes. I’m going to have the detailed show notes as well as the full unedited transcript and chapter summaries. You’ll be able to go and look and see information about Jeff and what he has accomplished. So you can easily access him. I know he’s. You can also access his book as well. You have a link that I’ll ensure that’s in the show. Notes about the book. A call to action, I believe, in regards to getting the book.

[00:48:21 – 00:48:41]
Yeah. So right now I’m giving away a free copy of my book. If you just pay for shipping and handling. You could go to theyieldingwarrior.com forward/book and see that there. And I also have my online programs up there and you can check those out as well. We’ve got a, a two week trial for our membership, so you can kind of get introduced to some of this stuff if, if that’s an interest to you.

[00:48:41 – 00:49:02]
Right on. Again, those new to the show, watching or listening, just go to giveaheck.com go podcast. You’ll see a picture of Jeff and you’ll see all the links and all the information in regards to this fabulous podcast. So, Jeff, you had to give our listeners one last closing message. What would you tell them in regards to giving a heck and never giving up?

[00:49:05 – 00:49:36]
You know, I think the most important thing that any of us can do is stay close to our why what’s important to us? Stay connected to who we are, not get caught up in the hustle and bustle too much and really start. Try to be able to look at yourself in the mirror without wearing a mask. And if you can do that, not only are you going to feel more content, but everybody around you is going to enjoy you a lot better as well.

[00:49:36 – 00:49:42]
Wow. Thank you for that fabulous ending message. Any last other comments that you’d like to add before I wrap up the show?

[00:49:43 – 00:49:45]
No sir. Thank you for having me on.

[00:49:45 – 00:50:00]
You’re welcome. Thanks for sharing such valuable information. Thanks so much for being on Give a Hack, Jeff. I appreciate your time and sharing some of your experiences so that others too can learn. It is never too late to give a heck.