In February of 2021, I found that my frustration with my weight and physical limitations had reached a boiling point. Despite all of the best intentions to be healthier in mind and body, I that I was going nowhere fast. I became angry at myself, convinced this failure was confirmation of my many limitations. I lacked both the will and discipline necessary to become better. But then I decided to change tact. Rather than wallowing in my misery, I would change my approach and own my life.
If you’ve heard of DDP Yoga before then you’ve surely heard about its namesake, Diamond Dallas Page, a Hall of Fame professional wrestler who developed the program in his late 30s to prolong his career following a devastating back injury. Mind you, this was in the late 90s. Guys back then, Dallas included, were of the opinion they wouldn’t be caught dead doing yoga. But results are results, and within a few months of yoga-based rehabilitation, an injury doctors said would end his career instead fell squarely into the rearview mirror as Dallas hoisted his very first World Heavyweight Championship.
They say the proof is in the pudding. Well, Dallas, albeit working with an entirely different recipe, was seriously on to something with his program.
I’m not going to go into a full history lesson regarding DDP Yoga, though I have written about the program multiple times in the past. The purpose of this particular post is to talk about how, even two years down the line and some 80 pounds leaner, DDPY continues to inspire me.
In his book, Positively Unstoppable, Dallas talks about “the art of owning it.” While the book serves as a great overview of the program, its start, and the rocky road that eventually led to it becoming a multi-million-dollar business, the thing that makes it stand out in my view is the message of positivity.
“Never underestimate the power you give someone when you believe in them. And never underestimate the power you give yourself when you believe in YOU. — Diamond Dallas Page
While such things may sound cliche, there’s real power in learning how to reframe your thoughts and eliminate toxic self-speak. By more or less changing the way you view the inevitable challenges life throws you way, you can better equip yourself to strive toward real, tangible goals — goals you either might not have had the conviction to stick with or even the courage to attempt in the first place.
I read Positively Unstoppable in March of 2021, just a couple of weeks into my DDP Yoga journey. At the time, my motivation was dwindling, and I was being powered almost solely by past frustrations. But while such things can sustain you for a short while, they do eventually run out unless you can identify a legitimate ‘why.’ As Friedrich Nietzche once said, “He who has a ‘why’ to live for can bear almost any ‘how’.”
The thing is, I was leaning on more of a “dark why” at the time — pure piss and vinegar. And while such fuel does burn white hot, it also burns remarkably fast and inefficiently. This is not a renewable resource to put it mildly.
Had I not shifted my mindset there and then, the transformational crux of my life would’ve soon petered out, going dormant again for who knows how many more years until it was ready to burn again and propel me forward. There is zero doubt in my mind those subsequent years would’ve been spent buried in self-loathing and depression.
What Positively Unstoppable did was shift my thinking from an adversarial position into one of self-care and kindness. I started to think about the bigger picture and just doing the next right thing rather than letting myself become impatient by the results I wasn’t seeing yet. Instead of bemoaning the number on the scale, and weighing myself every day, I focused on stacking up evidence that I was showing up and putting in the work.
When you write each day, you embody the identity of a creative person. When you train each day, you embody the identity of an athletic person. The more you repeat a behavior, the more you reinforce the identity associated with that behavior. — James Clear, author of Atomic Habits
Even if I didn’t lose much weight one week, I knew that, so long as I was managing my intake with a food journal and working out every day, the results would come.
The word that burned in my mind was “RELENTLESS,” which, funnily enough, I later discovered was the name of the documentary made about DDP. Coupling this mindset with the positive base laid out in Positively Unstoppable, I set about reshaping my whole life.
I eliminated toxic self-speak, which had in prior years turned me into my own worst enemy. Having always operated like a pendulum swinging between soaring ambition and crippling down, I found that the removal of the “backseat driver” left a lot more room for the guy building me up. With the “good guy” firmly in control of the megaphone, I began to develop a newfound confidence. What’s more, by focusing on the weight loss as a byproduct of the process, rather than the reason for doing it in the first place, I unlocked greater depths of potential I’d never known.
Look, I’m no stranger to imposter syndrome, but if you’re showing up every day to put in the work, at some point even that limiting belief must yield to mounting evidence. That applies to any habit or behavior, by the way.
With a renewed focus and reframed mindset, the weeks rolled into months and the weight started dropping off in a hurry. First twenty pounds, then thirty. Forty pounds. Fifty, all within the first six months! I smashed through every milestone and goal I’d placed along my path until I didn’t even care anymore what the scale said. It wasn’t about the number staring back but about pushing myself and harmonizing with my body and its capabilities.
It is a shame for a man to grow old, without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable. — Socrates
This past year, my focus shifted more toward maintaining my current form, something I had struggled mightily with in the past. Losing the weight had always been one thing, committing to the total lifestyle change and healthy fitness routine (keyword HEALTHY) was another matter altogether.
But, by learning how to be patient and gentler with myself, I managed to scale back from working out every day to about three or four times per week. Despite some concerns, this would necessitate a gradual backward slide, I instead discovered that I’d slowly but surely lost another 20 pounds, placing him at my lowest weight since my sophomore year of high school. How crazy is that?
The shift in my mindset, along with earnest commitment to the DDP Yoga system had produced the best physical version of myself — the me I’d strived to become but never believed I’d find again in the mirror.
Now, any time I look back at old photos of myself it’s like looking at another person entirely — not just another lifetime. I’ve even had newer friends and colleagues who didn’t know me from before coming to me for guidance on things like self-discipline, self-care, and fitness, which is almost surreal given where I was mentally 24 months ago.
I’ve shown the program around to some friends and family and even led a regular twice-weekly workout down at the office. When I set out to begin DDP Yoga, I was just looking to find a single redeemable quality about myself. Not only did I find that, but I found the strength and confidence to take full ownership of my life and fight for my dreams.
Before I knew it, I was leading DDP Yoga workouts down at the gym, coaching others through the various movements, exercises, and modifications I had once needed in order to complete each workout. Seeing that progression among the class, be it weight loss, flexibility, mobility, or all three, has been incredibly gratifying — almost beyond words. And with that experience came the discovery of purpose.
I’ve been doing DDP Yoga for two years now, come February 8th. It helped me transform myself physically and my life as a whole. Now I want to share that same power with others. And while I may not yet know exactly where that’ll take me, I know that if I quiet my mind and listen to my Self, no longer inhibited by negative, brow-beating thoughts, I will find a way to make a difference.
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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Photo credit: Keren Fedida on Unsplash