Ep. 63: Keith Mitchell - How Much Greatness Can We Put Into the World? - The Mindfulness Playbook
Mitchell is a former all pro NFL linebacker who early in his career suffered an injury on the field that left him partially paralyzed with his career, body and identity destroyed and the doctors unable to help him.
Keith lost his sense of identity and suffered from depression and even suicidal thoughts. A nurse recommended that Keith try controlled breathing, which eventually led him to meditation and yoga. Today, Keith is a master certified yoga instructor who through his Light It Up charity foundation is bringing yoga and mindfulness meditation to children, vets, first responders, former NFL players and other trauma survivors.
In this inspiring podcast you will learn how breath supports our internal organs and how to use it to manifest love and direction in your life. Keith shares why keeping your identity fluid is critical and why he is so focused on being more human.
Mitchell’s life’s mission is to see how much greatness we can put into the world. He explains, “We can't eat money. We can't connect to money, but we can connect to people. We can build a community of people, of conscious thinkers. We can take problems that are happening in our world and we can create a collective and solve them.”
Love, specifically self-love, Mitchell explains, naturally goes into other people. What does a fully loved you look like? His new book, The Mindfulness Playbook explains more and will help your turn your world into a playground.
More From Keith Mitchell
Website www.keithmitchell59.com
Book: The Mindfulness Playbook
Foundation: Light It Up Foundation
Twitter @K_Mitchell59
Facebook @keithmitchell59, @thelightitupfoundation
Instagram@keithmitchell59
YouTube Keith Mitchell
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Show Notes
[01:12] I grew up in Texas since I was a little kid watching the Dallas Cowboys. All I can ever think of being was a football player. So I put that on my goal list. I set myself up to do it. And the irony of that is my mother wouldn’t let me start playing until I was 14. So even as I had this vision, I wasn’t even playing.
[02:53] So I'm telling my body to move and my body's not responding and they're not over me because they don't know what's going on with me.
[03:41] That identity that I had for so long as this character, this football player was dying.
[03:49] I didn't know who Keith was. All I knew was me as the football player, the athlete. I didn't know who Keith wasn't. It was just like one of those things, a feeling attached to what's been comfortable, what's been the normal. And I was losing that. I had to come into this new experience.
[04:30] People who breathe in the chest wall, the heart and lungs don't really need the help and assistance to move. They move naturally. But what does need assistance is your internal organs, kidneys, the colon, the intestine, and all the types of organs that we have with that size would detoxifying our bodies continuously.
[05:10] Would you say the experience of having your identity stripped from you was even more painful than the physical injury you suffered?
[05:39] I must say, at that time, I had mental toughness, but I didn't understand how to deal with the chaos of just life happening and you can't control it.
[06:39] If you think about it, when you breathe from the belly, it's like you're gonna be more relaxed, you're going to be more subtle, more contemplated. You can actually cure in a sense of how you're choosing to live and not be so erratic with the emotions and it calms you down to have you approach and have you to attune to your body and to what you are striving to create for yourself.
[07:20] Asking yourself a simple question and realizing the answer was speaking the truth, because we realized how much we can tell ourselves stories and create stories that are not even true, but we can buy into our stories.
[07:44] As an athlete, I knew how to push my body, but I didn't know how to listen to my body. And that's a different dynamic.
[08:12] And that for me was a life changer as well, because I'm here at 31, 32, just realizing that I had a relationship existing with myself that I never even knew about.
[10:49] You know, I work with so many different executives who are so successful on paper. But then I say in a class --I love to do this-- I say tell me something you like about yourself. You have this group of successful people that can't come up with things that they actually like about themselves.
[11:53] Set out a goal, make it simple enough and fully commit to it.
[12:43] We have this amazing potential of magnetism that we don't really export very well, but we have this magnetism that we can create things, things because things are energy to come to us.
[12:54] You talk about the importance of breath and this stillness and coming to that breath in you, then you can have more clarity of what you might want or what you might need in your life.
[13:58] That's really the chance that we take of showing up to feel, to be present, to embrace it all. Realizing life doesn't just exist in one polarity. There's so-called good in this so-called bad, and it comes with it.
[14:34] There's a cultivation that happens that sustains us and through that journey. That's why our journey is the destination. It grows us. That's where the validation actually comes from. And we get to build ourselves and experience it. And by the time we get to the pinnacle, then we realize like, yeah, wow. This is one step. And it was amazing. And then you also begin to be empathetic to the people on their journey as well.
[15:05] It’s really a thing of just being more human. It's really what I've been developing and learning within myself and seeing it with other people.
[15:58] But really, what I've allowed this human being to develop within me, within life, the world begins to be my playground.
[6:14] See your identity now as more fluid, something that's constantly changing and evolving.
[17:07] Your love of yoga obviously has far surpassed your previous level of football.
[17:26] I like to call it mindfulness because it's kind of the umbrella of bringing the yoga and meditation together to show that to someone and to give them an empowerment.
[17:55] You know, when you play in the NFL and that's the pinnacle. Like, you can't get bigger than that in a sense of the sport. But when you go into just connecting to humans. Right. That's a whole other lane that begins to be something just like I can put it in words.
[18:17] We can't eat money. We can't connect to money, but we can connect to people. We can build a community of people, of conscious thinkers. We can treat problems that are happening in our world and we can create a collective and solve them. That's the life long lesson that I've learned about sharing this practice.
[21:12] Let's deal with the trauma as trauma comes up. Let's release it and how we release it with the egg shell. We get frustrated to come back to center and to realize intention and things like that. And understanding how the words speak is so powerful.
[22:35] No matter what we've been through, what we have been diagnosed with, we are not the diagnosis. We can heal beyond that.
[22:59] What does a fully loved me look like?
[23:06] What do you need for the love to be in your life?
[23:09] And that's just simply the relationship with myself. What I know about the practice is when you create that and cultivate that love, that consistency of attention for yourself within it naturally goes into other people.
[24:36] How much greatness can we actually put out into the world? Who can we be and lift up?
Thank you for joining us on HealthGig. We loved having you with us. We hope you'll tune in again next week. In the meantime, be sure to like and subscribe to this podcast, and follow us on healthgigpod.com.
“As an athlete, I knew how to push my body, but I didn't know how to listen to my body.”” – Keith Mitchell
“Set out a goal, make it simple enough and fully commit to it.” – Keith Mitchell
“There's a cultivation that happens that sustains us and through that journey. That's why our journey is the destination. It grows us.” – Keith Mitchell
“We can't eat money. We can't connect to money, but we can connect to people. We can build a community of people, of conscious thinkers. We can treat problems that are happening in our world and we can create a collective and solve them. That's the life long lesson that I've learned about sharing this practice.” – Keith Mitchell
“No matter what we've been through, what we have been diagnosed with, we are not the diagnosis. We can heal beyond that.” – Keith Mitchell
“What does a fully loved me look like?” – Keith Mitchell
“How much greatness can we actually put out into the world? Who can we be and lift up? ” – Keith Mitchell
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