May 10, 2021 • 52 mins
"The only disability is a bad mindset," says former NFL linebacker David Vobora, who went from the TOP OF HIS GAME, to the agony of defeat and addiction, and in so doing, discovered his true calling. David was picked LAST in the NFL draft of 2008...which earns the dubious moniker of MR IRRELEVANT.
This is anything but a football story, and how wrong the Mr. Irrelevant tag was...for a person who has gone on to help countless broken veterans who’ve returned from the war, emotionally broken, with one, two, three, even four less limbs. As you’ll see, David’s ‘Why’ is closing the gap between who a person think they are and who they are called to be….and that takes place through hard, work, challenge and sweat at the Adaptive Training Foundation n Carrolton Texas.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE ATF:
https://www.adaptivetrainingfoundation.org/
NFL 360 feature story on David Vobora:
David Vobora: Career Ending Injury Shaped my Passion for Helping Others
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJL3wo4MGfU
=========
For more information about Thom Dharma Pollard:
http://eyesopenproductions.com/
For a free downloadable copy of A Course In Happiness:
www.patreon.com/thehappinessquotient
Our theme song, Happiness Jones, appears courtesy of The Wood Brothers.
For more information about The Wood Brothers:
https://www.thewoodbros.com/
The Wood Brothers on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTvWKQovDZlLceuct1EEMMQ
Happiness Jones video can be seen here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKIoiVWwF5A
Tracks in the middle of the episode were found on the Free Music Archive and performed by:
Metyu,VKTRD & Ondro M. off the album VR(Y)T Improvisations Vol.II
For more about Thom Dharma Pollard, about personal coaching or his inspirational presentations, virtual or in person, find him at:
www.eyesopenproductions.com
To join his mailing list for The Happiness Quotient, email him at thom.dharma.pollard@gmail.com
If you've been enjoying the podcast and find value in the content, we'd be incredibly grateful for your support. Your monthly contribution helps ensuring that we can continue delivering great content for you to enjoy.
Click on the link below:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/268133/support
Thank you!
Thom Dharma Pollard
Here are a few ways you can help support us:
Patreon for access to exclusive content:
https://www.patreon.com/everestmystery
EVEREST MYSTERY Membership for access to perks and exclusive content:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEk3e_XGyNnqwK2ZlxH7fEA/join
Tip Jar for anyone who would like to help support us:
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/EverestMystery
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Thom Pollard (00:00):
This is the happiness quotient.
Today, we'll be talking aboutthe limitless human potential
born inside of you. What it'salso about is the trials and
tribulations that often are thestimuli that force us to
(00:21):
acknowledge the truths withinus. Today, our remarkable guest
has gone from the top of hisgame, to the agony of defeat and
addiction, and in so doingdiscovered his true calling. His
name is David vo Bora, a manpicked last in the NFL draft of
2008, which earns the dubiousmoniker of Mr. irrelevant. In a
(00:45):
minute we're going to talk toDavid vo Bora. You'll see why
this is anything but a footballstory and how wrong the Mr.
Irrelevant tag was for a personwho's gone on to help countless
broken veterans who havereturned from war with 123 even
four less limbs. But as you'llsee David's Why is closing the
(01:10):
gap between who a person thinksthey are and who they are called
to be. And that takes placethrough hard work, challenge and
sweat at the adaptive trainingfoundation in Carrollton, Texas.
The Wood Brothers (01:24):
All of my wisdom came from all the
toughest days. I never learnedthing bein happy
all of my sufferin came ididnt appreciate it I never
learned a thing bein happy butto know how it feels now and
(01:44):
then.....
Thom Pollard (01:44):
I'm Thom Pollard.
I first learned about today'sguest on a story produced by the
NFL Network. It's called NFL 360and I found it on YouTube. The
story was called David vo bohracareer ending injury shaped my
passion for helping others. Thelink is in the liner notes of
this episode. I watched theepisode probably 2025 times by
(02:07):
now and I've shared it with manyof my friends. It truly moved
me. David Ville Bora is a formerNFL linebacker he was drafted
last by the St. Louis Rams,earning him the title Mr.
irrelevant. He did what very fewMr. irrelevance have ever done.
And that's earn a starting rolein his rookie season. Several
(02:31):
years into a successful career.
He sustained a significantshoulder injury during the game,
and the days ahead were overcomeby darkness and a growing
dependence on pain medication.
In the story on NFL 360 Davidsaid that he was spending
(02:51):
sometimes 1000s of dollars aweek on pain meds out of the
darkness with the tirelesssupport of his wife Sara, David
conquered his addiction. Heopened up a workout gym in
Carrollton, Texas for highperforming athletes. His career
was over but his need to trainand work with athletes had not
(03:13):
subsided one iota.
Here's where everything changed.
In January 2014, David met USArmy Staff Sergeant Travis
Mills, a quadruple amputee,David opened up his personal gym
to Travis offering his trainingexpertise, and the pair started
(03:36):
working out together customizingand adapting to the unique
challenges posed by Travis'sinjuries. through working with
Travis and engaging the veterancommunity, David developed a
passion for helping those withlife altering injuries find life
fulfilling adaptive performancetraining. David realize that
while there are many excellentrehab programs, as well as
(03:59):
adaptive Paralympic sportsorganizations, none existed to
bridge the gap from basicfunctional rehab to adapted
sport adaptive trainingFoundation, the ATF was
conceived fill this void. Theadaptive training foundation now
has a 501 c three status toallow outside support for these
(04:22):
ambitious athletes. And to thisday, ATF keeps its services 100%
free of charge to adaptiveathletes relies on the
generosity of individuals andorganizations to not only
restore broken lives, butempower growth through movement.
(04:43):
David and his team at ATF helpthose returning from a different
battlefield than the footballgridiron. The battlefield of war
of metal of explosives, his ownpersonal experience of pain and
suffering has now become avehicle to transform the lives
Have those who have beenphysically and emotionally
damaged by war. In this episode,you'll hear part of my interview
(05:07):
with David vo Bora. I'll bereleasing the balance of it in
my new podcast called, becauseit's their premiering this
month, may 2021. Stay tuned.
Here's my April 26 conversationwith David vo Bora of adaptive
training foundation.
(05:28):
That one of my favorite thingsto kind of understand, and I
still think I'm trying I'mlearning is that like,
sometimes, like really badthings have to happen in order
for us to kind of discoversomething and it's like, look at
what you have, look what you'vedone. I'm not saying your life
(05:48):
isn't going to be trouble freefor the rest of your life. But
you build something out of bloodand guts and struggle and, and
something beautiful came out,you know, and that's
David Vobora (06:02):
Yeah, it's so interesting that you use the
word bad because we all do this,right? It's this binary lens is
good or bad, right or wrong, butit's just and you know, like as
human, as a human species ashuman organisms. stimulus is
what moves us right? if we'rehonest, we're pretty lazy
species. innately, right? Yeah.
So So what is it then whenpressure resistance, I call it
(06:22):
spiritual sandpaper, right? Weasked for this the newness we
want change, and that when itcomes, we go into this fight,
flight or freeze, we lock up, wewonder if we have what it takes.
But really, Things Fall Apart tofall together to fall apart to
fall together. So my story is nodifferent than many of these
athletes. Yeah, I'm not missingan arm or a leg. Right. But life
(06:43):
doesn't discriminate. You know,we started a new cohort here
that runs our flagship nine weektraining program for people with
disabilities and trauma allcosts free. And we take them on
this journey, right in thephysical, seems like what we're
about, that's just market entry.
Right? It's about what's betweenthe ears and the limitless human
potential when you can changesomebody shifts somebody, they
(07:06):
change themselves from extrinsicvalue worth the motivation to
intrinsic, right, suddenly, theylike the person staring back at
them in the mirror, that personbecomes a force multiplier that
then pays it forward withsomeone in this anonymous
experience. And if I'm honest,Tom, and you know, this, the
human, the human experience isladen with pain, right? But that
doesn't mean you have to suffer,right? It's the narrative around
(07:29):
the pain. It's just thesensation. But the narrative
that you draw is what createsthe suffering the limiting
factors, the right and leftlateral limits, to say, well,
doctor diagnosed me as thisright, you're not going to take
this pain from me. Cool. You canhave it right. I don't want to,
but do you want to? Are you surethat there's not something
behind the reason behind thereason and that's what we evoke
in them. And through that,right, and, you know, these
(07:51):
workouts and these, you know,growth producing fear
encounters, they blossom intothis whole new person that's
kicking ass and going out thereand helping other people like
them.
Thom Pollard (08:00):
You've got these men and women coming into your
gym, who for all rights haveever just almost deserve
somebody to go, oh my god, Ifeel so bad for you. And you get
this guy, Travis Mills or anyoneelse and you're trying to knock
him over and you're like, dude,I don't care if you have no arms
(08:22):
and no legs. I don't want youfalling over and I at least you
because this is it. It's it'sbetween the ears. It's like your
your handicaps are here. Youknow? And that sounds like some
David Vobora (08:39):
that's just to say the only disability is a bad
mindset. there's a there's a boxon tape on the floor at our gym,
and it says sympathy box saysyour excuses. Your excuses are
invalid because if you wantsympathy, go stand in the box.
You're not going to get itanywhere. I don't care if your
staff sergeant Travis Mills,quadruple amputee or Rex
burkhead. Right patriots runningback who works out here
alongside these men and women.
It's really about look,compassion is everything. Right?
(09:02):
Hey, come as you are, right?
There's a belonging but don'texpect to stay that way. Right?
Like we use that term tribe andit's gotten become kind of
trendy. But I've been on teamsteam has a roster, right? It's
an organizational chart rolesand responsibilities positions.
But that doesn't really talkabout empowering people to show
up for themselves inside of thatlarger why a tribe to me makes
(09:25):
the, you know, most leastexperience, most experience most
impaired, you know, leastqualified person and they're
they're integral parts of thesome of the whole tribe, right?
And then all of a sudden,they're like, Wow, man, my story
matters. And that ability totell your story is proof that
you're going beyond it right?
Like if if you are so hung up onthe fact that the doctor told
you you would never blink,right? You're certainly not
(09:48):
going to believe that it's evenpossible and then you see
somebody to your right and leftin this gym doing it right. And
it blows your mind to go Wait asecond. What if that person a
lab coat although they did go toschool
spend a lot of money for theirschooling. They're not God.
Right? Let's just do the work.
And we'll see, see what happens?
I don't know, right? We don'tknow until we throw the hat in
(10:08):
the ring and give it a shot. Mmhmm. The essence of what I like
to talk to people about like thepeople I've usually become
friends with and is when we cango off on this meandering path.
And it's always about like, whatindividuals are truly capable of
when they put their mind to itis beyond belief, you know? And,
(10:31):
and we never know until we tryto go there and sometimes it
starts in the pit of like thebottom of the well. Yeah,
usually does, man that's why I'ma champion to the underdogs.
That was my story, right? Yousaid skinny pencil neck kid
growing up in Eugene, Oregon.
One D one scholarship to Idaho.
I took it because I wanted toplay at the highest level Pop's
(10:51):
was a D one player in Oregon,ended up you know, being the
last pic drafted in the NFL,right? It was always Hey,
David's good. But is he goodenough to take that next step.
So I always had this chip on myshoulder. But it wasn't until I
started meeting these athletesthat they actually gave me
permission to go into some ofthe dark places of my own psyche
and my own soul to deal withsome past traumas. And again,
(11:13):
when I say like, inspirationwashes off, you could watch an
awesome YouTube video. Buteventually, it doesn't work the
same way as the first time youwatched it. So what do you do to
aspire? How do you take what youobserve and others? And then
say, Man, like, I think there'ssomething in me, right? What I
seek is inside of me, and wheream I willing to go to grow it.
And it oftentimes is thisparadoxical truth that it's not
(11:37):
through force. It's not through,you know, power or strength.
It's in that funny word,surrender, that just hate,
right, that acceptance, and thenthe ability to transcend that
through vulnerability, man,like, if courage is action, in
the face of fear, I want tosurround myself by people acting
in the face of danger or fear.
Because that flow, the presentmoment, which is all we really
(12:00):
have, that is suddenly a way torelate to everything happening
in front of you or around you,but you still have your breath,
right? You can still groundyourself in that moment and say,
wait a second, even though, youknow, there's false evidence
appearing real is triggeringthis, this very parasympathetic
nervous state thing. If I justtake one conscious breath,
(12:23):
try to find the silence beneathit all. Well, what remains,
right? And then if I can startfrom that point, right, it's,
it's almost the genesis of wherereal life is. And if you can
find that consistently, you canconsciously respond rather than
unconsciously react to all thestimuli in your life, we are
stressed out all the time, Idon't care if it's somebody
(12:44):
cutting you off on the freeway,or a freakin bear, you know, out
on a trail of both or getting tosimulate a reaction, we just
want to be in control and thegovernor over that, then we're,
you know, better total human.
And the people that we careabout will feel the benefit of
that. And when we pour intoourselves, the benefit is that
it's going to elevate all thosearound us. It's this dichotomy.
I call it healthy, selfish,there's this blending of, again,
(13:07):
why do I put my basketball firston the airplane? You know, it's
like, it doesn't make sense ifthere's a kid next to you, but
you have to do that to have achance to help anybody else.
Thom Pollard (13:17):
You. You you had some, you know, there was some
You're the one of the guys whoactually achieved your dreams
young, you know, and this iswhat makes your story to me
really interesting. It's like,you grew up a kid you wanted to
be a professional footballplayer. And you nailed it. I
mean, by the hair, your chinnychin chin, right, you but you
got in man, and then you'restarting and and and you know,
(13:41):
and then it ended, you know,hate men, you know, football
careers. What is the average athree year career so you, you
did it? And so redefining youridentity sounds like that's
where we got into some. Youknow, it's like, how do you
redefine your identity afterthat's all you put in your life?
Well, I don't know. Explainthat. Like how do you come out
(14:03):
of that?
David Vobora (14:04):
Yeah, you know, it was tunnel vision for success,
you know, my one track mind orwhat I said yes or no to
everything revolved aroundsuccess in football. And again,
being able to have a respectableNFL career, especially as the
last pick and kind of changingthe statistics on Mr. Relevant
but to me, I did, I did morethan some but less than most is
how I say it. And I and I usethat I stole that from a Navy
SEAL mentor of mine. And it'sinteresting to me as I think
(14:27):
about my my football career,because,
you know, it was largely themask that I wore that I used to,
to gain applause so that nobodyasked me what the heck was
really going on under thesurface. You know, I am bold and
outspoken about being sexuallyabused as a young boy. It took
me almost two decades to admitthat that even occurred, I
(14:49):
stuffed it so deep. And then inmen in acknowledging it. I was
kinda like, okay, it's out good.
I'm done with that. No, no, no,hold on, right. That's where the
real workbegan. And so over the past
years working with cliniciansworking with therapists, working
with coaches developing ameditation practice, you know,
putting my stuff out there wherethese these athletes I serve no
(15:09):
longer put me on a pedestal,right? And they go, Wow, okay,
wait a second, it's this idea ofwading into the water with them
not standing at the shore andgoing, Hey, I know it's better
just go go a little further. Youknow, like everything that I've
created, this gym was out ofwhat I watched my parents do,
living in compassion in churchand picking up homeless people
(15:29):
and people with disabilities andbringing them to church.
Football, that that atmosphere,this camaraderie, the locker
room, the Brotherhood, all that.
And then kind of thisredefinition from again, you
reach this Pinnacle, you know,you're used to this structure
that x, y equals z, and runningdown the field on kickoff, you
could never ever replicate afeeling like that. I don't think
(15:49):
maybe, maybe on the Hillary stepwas such
a little, little doses of it.
Yeah. But all to say it's like,you get to that place, and then
I have a gnarly shoulder injury.
And it was just easier than toask the hard question, it was
easier to stuff my mouth full ofpain medication and drugs to to
cope with the identity crisis,right. And it's that's not that,
(16:11):
that that and just different, Iguess from what these whether
they're warriors coming fromgiving orders, taking orders
being on the battlefield, andthen suddenly being ripped from
that quite literally limbs beingblown off, and then suddenly be
like, Wait, who that Who thehell am I to, you know, car
accidents, to, you know, alsdiagnosis, stroke, what you name
(16:32):
it, you know, and that's where Ithink, my opportunity to use my
background in psychology, right,this is sweat psychology, we use
weights and conditioning tolearn about ourselves, right?
You can use large mountains andaltitude to learn about
yourself. There's a lot ofdifferent ways to put yourself
into an ecosystem to grow. Butwhen you can do it with people
that I think,you know, it's incredibly
(16:54):
inclusive, different race,gender, sexual preference, age,
veteran civilian, it says thisfusion like there's even my
church, and I love my church,there's, there's very few places
that I feel like I walk into aplace and I go, Wow, there is
the full spectrum here. And abunch of people that are looking
at each other as human beings,trying to better themselves.
(17:14):
That's the only part of accessthat matters. And I think that
that's a model for especiallytoday's society, where man, we
can learn so much through thelens of social injustice through
the lens of, you know, payequality through I mean, I could
go on and on and on, I just feelthat the gym, when you suffer a
little bit together and sweat alittle bit together, you like I
don't care what beer can bepurple polka dot, like, I'm
(17:37):
going to give you a knockos aswe walk out of this thing,
because together, we justaccomplished something. So I
think that to me, is where I'veback to the redefinition.
I consider myselfWell, I'd say 'My Why', my why
is helping people close the gapbetween who they think they are,
and who they're called to be.
(17:58):
And that to me is, is gettingthem to see themselves the way
that we see them, becausethey've they've just identified
with whatever was or arestruggling to. And the parts
that they're resisting is wherethe real gift of their
uniqueness is, like today atorientation, a bunch of athletes
with a bad posture. They said,Well, I just want to feel normal
again, I want to get back tofeeling like me. And I had to
(18:18):
interrupt him like, hey, if Iwalked up to you, Tom, and I
said, hey, you're really normal.
You're just a normal normal guy.
That's not a compliment. That'san insult. Right? Yeah. That
that difference between normalYeah, and uncommon. uncommon is
what we're, I think what we'researching for, because even if I
could regrow your legs, you'renot coming back to here, I'm
(18:39):
going to catapult you way overhere to the abundance of new
opportunity experiences, whichfollow me here. experiences,
change beliefs, would shiftbehaviors and change results. If
you just try to shift tobehavior and change your
results. It's not going tostick. I don't care if that's
quitting smoking, or quitting,whatever. It's about the
experience first, that thenchanges that intrinsic belief
(19:00):
that now that behaviors, it'slike, why would I go back to
that note that no longer servesme? So that's the magic. And I
personally tried to do it in myown life. If not, How the hell
can I tell them to do it?
Thom Pollard (19:10):
Exactly. Yeah.
So so a veteran goes to theadaptive training foundation.
And I know you have like thesemodules kind of right. They
might come in in a group andstart like, do a nine week or,
you know, not necessarily theaverage guy, but like, what,
(19:31):
what, Blitz, let's say one ofthe individuals who's really
comes in down and out, you can'tgo from zero to 60 on day one.
So kind of how does that happen?
David Vobora (19:44):
Yeah, it's nuanced. It's it's fluid
leadership, right? So you haveto present a stimulus, a stress
or some exercise, right? Andthen you have to watch them both
biomechanically and physically,but also seeing how they react
when they're at that rep, thatseemingly
is their threshold? And again,are they using anger to push
through with a yell? That'sokay. Right? Are they you see
(20:06):
emotion on the surface, right?
We've used visualization. Imean, I remember one of my
law enforcement, FBI, DeputyDirector of homicide, amazing
dude fell through a roof on ahomicide call, it loses his bow
above knee, leg above knee, whenI got him a beautiful wife and
family. And he was swinging thesledge hitting this tire. And he
(20:27):
didn't he did. The first stepwas okay, I walked over to him,
I just whispered in his ear. Isaid, Hey, this next one, I want
you to visualize every singletime that you snapped on your
kids, since this happened go.
kind of looked at me. But okay,right. Bang, turn it up a little
bit, then I whisper in his ear.
On the next one. I said, Hey,this time, it's every time you
snapped on your wife. And he gota little bit more. And you can
see that emotion. And the lasttime and I didn't even know
(20:48):
this. We hadn't talked aboutthis. I said this last time, I
want you to do this set. Forthose times when you took as
much sleeping meds and as muchpain pills, hope you didn't wake
up and do the floodgates opentears streaming down his face.
And he had a theory right thathe was releasing those things.
So how do we connect mind body,right, the body keeps the score
when that emotional stickinessgets stuck. Because we're
(21:11):
holding on to different versionsof ourselves. We are speaking a
language that they don't speak.
So the translation is how theyfeel it in their physical body,
right and then giving them cuesto discover an awareness a level
of consciousness that then theysee what was formerly
unconscious, right? And thenthat they can make a competent
choice to decide. Because here'sthe problem. People think that
(21:32):
our emotions or feelings are notup to us know where we put our
attention. Where we put ourfocus derives our emotions and
feelings. And if we can start tobecome the watcher of our own
thoughts, that little voice inour head that's not paying rent,
the slave driver, the one thatsays you'll never you can't they
don't love you, you won't,right? We start to use a firming
(21:52):
language replace that. It'sreally this like, it takes what
it takes in nine weeks,sometimes by week to boom, it
clicks for somebody and you seenow Okay, now they're not just
at the stream, now they'redrinking it. Now we can take
them a little deeper. Yeah, soit's this. It's this fluid,
poetic art of being a humanbeing and relating to them and
pushing them right to thatbrink. But then also making sure
(22:14):
that you earn their trust sothat they're willing to tell you
about what's between thoseyears. And it's, it's, it's the
most fun thing that I get to dois witness people as they break
through.
Thom Pollard (22:27):
Um, we kept it to me, it just seems like I have to
ask you a little bit aboutTravis Mills. Because, um, he he
just appeared at the right timeyou guys cross. I mean, I mean,
you might have seen a weekbefore or a month later, and
this story might not havehappened so so when when you saw
(22:49):
him, were you still using youknow, painkillers? Or were you
kind of cleaned out? Just
David Vobora (22:56):
I was totally clean. Yeah, so I quick timeline
linear timeline here. 2012 wasmy year away from football and
got cleaned up, got off all thepills, had a couple of surgeries
and get the body fixed a littlebit. I was training to come
back. And actually when I gotthe call to return I, for the
first time I didn't just thinkhere was got and I said man,
(23:18):
it's time for me to step awayfrom the game made that decision
decided to move from OrangeCounty Down here to Texas to
start the gym. And I've beendoing the gym in 2013. But not
adaptive athletes. It was justperformance athletes, Olympians
and college athletes and such.
And then again, I the connectthe dots here, the god winks
along the way are crazy. Andthat's what I tell people like
(23:39):
you could have the perfectformula or plan. But it's about
being head up, eyes open, handsopen, because you got to see
being able to catch the miracleright in front of you. And in
this case, this Navy SEALallowed me space in his back
warehouse and in to starttraining athletes and then I
went to a surprise birthdayparty for him. And Travis shows
up I didn't know who TravisMills was I did. I don't think I
(24:00):
even knew an amputee at thetime. I've never met one and and
then as the story goes, hestrolls in on his prosthetics.
And I rudely broke away fromwhoever I was talking to you and
I beeline for him like hotchicken, the bar, as I say, and
ask him that question. You know,what was the last time you
worked out? And he asked if Ihad experience I told him no,
and I just owned it. I think sooften, we skirt around what we
(24:22):
actually want by saying thingsthat are supposed to like assume
that the person knows, bedirect, you know, take a chance
on yourself and others by justgoing like I feel this gut pull.
And I'm going to honor that Iaction. And that's what I did.
And again, it was like Travisworking out when the discovery
(24:42):
of how he can move his body andwe could program workouts for
him. I just watched everybodylose their excuse to the gym.
Everyone elevated their ownpotential. And I said, Man, what
if we could do this on a largerscale and this inclusive that
inclusive atmosphere that couldbreed
So much growth in so many peoplebecause our our ATF athletes are
(25:04):
soul mirrors, you know, youcan't walk out of the gym and
not have to look at yourself inthe mirror differently. And
that's the I think the benefitof weaving people from such
crazy. I mean, one of theathletes in this current class,
you wouldn't believe this spinalcord injury in 2016 because her
husband ex husband, tried toshoot her did shoot her gay
(25:27):
spinal cord injury, paralyzedfrom the waist down. Now, hold
on. Fast forward three years,this is literally 2019 and she's
getting married to her secondhusband. Well, wedding night,
exhausted, you know, I've beenpartying drugs now called
involved. She literally herRottweiler, and I kid you not
(25:47):
chewed her foot off, chewed herfoot off, dude on her wedding
night. This girls are in ourcurrent class. Now we do have
her doing some things. Weactually got her in a little bit
before doing some thingsprivately. And she's already
making incredible strides. Butyou can't make this stuff up.
Right? Like it's jaw droppingstuff that you're just like,
man, I don't know why this stuffoccurs. But this is why this
(26:09):
thing was created point beingthat chance intersection with
Travis Mills, that has nowcreated a whole movement.
There's all kinds of gyms now,including adaptive athletes, and
that makes me so freakin happy.
Thom Pollard (26:21):
Yeah, wow, that I mean, you know, it, we people
just want to be frickin lovedfor who they are with all their
faults. And I think, you know,what happens is, and it's okay,
but people grow up and theybecome adults. And they didn't
have a chance to work their crapout. And they just take it out
(26:43):
on other people. And so there'sthis kind of this vicious cycle.
And then occasionally, you know,not occasionally but but you
don't, maybe not enough. Peoplecan see through that they see
through the pain, their ownphysical limitations and mental
limitations. And say, like, no,I can I can be like an agent of
(27:05):
change on one individual's life.
Maybe it's just mine.
But if but, and and, and dudeand Travis Mills was was about
you it more than it was abouthim. I mean, you were just
insanely curious. It was like, Ican't get away from you. Let's
just try this. And all of asudden, you both just want a
(27:26):
couple of samples. And that's,that's beautiful, because you
were willing to be weak orwilling to be vulnerable or
something. That's a big step.
Man, that's a big step. It'seasier
to drink a beer or to shootsomething into your veins. If
you know I'm not really but butlet's just kill the pain instead
(27:50):
of me being vulnerable. Becauseif I'm vulnerable, then people
know the truth about me. Well,what's What truth? What what
would that what truth are youtalking about? There is not a
human being on this planet whoisn't you know, capable of
malevolence or evil or, orunkind actions me you. But it's
(28:10):
I can we can above the base andus and at least die a little bit
better, more evolved than whenwe were born. That's all I ask.
Much.
David Vobora (28:21):
Preach, preach.
Give me goosebumps over here. Ilove that quote, The all the
devils, all the angels, all theheavens, all the hills are
within us. You know, JordanPeterson talks a lot about that
dichotomy of, you know, as muchJesus as much Hitler. Right.
It's all it's all within. And soI think the word that comes up
to me is permission. Permissionto be where you are. Right here
(28:44):
right now. Right? And I thinkabout what the image in my head
is, is Robin Williams and MattDamon and goodwill hunting,
right? When they're when he hugshim, and we'll try to push back
and he's like, it's not yourfault. He's like, gay, okay. No,
no, it's it's not it's not yourfault. It's not your fault,
right. And then and as Mattcomes apart, right, like, that
(29:05):
is what we do is just done anorchestrated in a vastly
different way.
But it's the same Crux, which islove, man. And it's love,
because it will, it is that itis the energy state in the state
of receivership where if you canget somebody into that register,
man,their pain threshold changes,
(29:26):
the ability to see they coulddrive past the same thing every
day and see something for thefirst time. Right? It's this
disruption in the typical, thisis how I was supposed to operate
because somebody told me thatit's this. It's this new
agreement with themselves thathey, look, even if it's that I
have kids, and I want to bebetter for them. That's a reason
(29:47):
but that's not the route. Likewe have these meetings twice
during this nine week coursethat we call route meetings and
we lock in, it's just theathlete and the staff and we
talk about it.
You know, guys reaching everynight for the bourbon, you know,
the Bourbons a problem, butthere's a reason behind the
reason for the reach. And how dowe unveil those things? How do
we uproot those things? And thenonce we do, it's crazy, because
(30:10):
guys, I mean, we had a Navy vetwho shared about his own sexual
traumas as a kid, and he'd beenmarried 31 years never even told
his wife, any of that occurred,right, but felt good enough in
the circle. And then at the end,everybody writes down the thing
that we're going to go out backand we burn in this trash can.
But before they burn it, theyhave to write it down, and then
to show somebody next to them,and they say, hey, if I, if you
(30:33):
see me pick this up, call meout. Because I no longer picking
this up. I'm burning the ships,right. And maybe that's the
shame or guilt associated withblank with their accident, their
injuries, something that youknow, survivor's guilt, where
the people next to them didn'tcome home. And that's I think,
again, like, you can go andexercise. And that's, that's
great. That's market entry. Butit's really getting back to that
(30:56):
root of vulnerability. How areyou willing to kind of
annihilate your ego throughpractice vulnerability that is
authentic, not convenient, whereI'm telling my story, like, Look
at me, look at me, it'sliterally being like, yo, my
messes your mess, your message,my message here. And like that
posture is huge. It is, for me,the quickest way that I see my
(31:20):
perspective shift. And, youknow, there's tons of self
development books, and there'stons of podcasts and other
things. But if you can't stopand look at yourself in the
mirror without breaking eyecontact for 2, 3, 4 minutes, ask
yourself why be okay withwhatever comes up, that is a
task and a tool that is achallenge to anyone listening.
(31:42):
You might be surprised whatcomes up, you might get really
emotional, you might get reallyangry, you might not be able to
maintain eye contact, don'tjudge yourself for whatever
comes up. But ask yourself,well, what's behind that? You
know, the reason behind thereason for these things is where
we find our superpowers. Andthat's what led me on this, this
path that I could have neverever expected and I'm certainly
(32:03):
grateful to be on it.
Thom Pollard (32:05):
Incredible. Well, that's, that's amazing. And
actually, I love that so I'm,that's the challenge for our
listeners, the three to fourminutes go and look in the
mirror. I usually, I typicallydon't do that I go on my like,
you know, your flies on zip. Oh,damn it again. You know, like, I
just I should look in the mirrormore often, right? But, uh, you
(32:28):
know, soa lot of people are out there
and listening. And I hope asmany people as possible can hear
this.
The challenge just to be moreexceptional. You know, where
somebody is in a marine vet orsomeone isn't, you know, an
amputee, they're, you know, inVermont or in, you know, Oregon
(32:53):
and some place of their own kindof slight suffering. What What,
what do they do you reach out toanother individual, what, what's
what's salvation, for anindividual who's feeling alone,
you know,
David Vobora (33:07):
the first step is not making salvation, a thing
that's out in front, becauseit's right here right now. Yeah,
right here, right now, the graceis sufficient. You just have to
give yourself permission. I saythis, often, the prison door has
been unlocked the whole time.
You just didn't want to push onit. You were the one right, who
locked yourself in there. And itwasn't even ever locked. So
encouragement to reach out tosomebody that's trusted. Of
(33:29):
course, I think that when youget these things out that
fester, you know that stillsmall voice at 2am that weighs
on you. If you just start bysharing it with a trusted
individual, it lessens its powerover your its grip. You know, I
use little tools. Here's apractical pragmatic when I speak
about often, what I feel spotout, maybe it's because of
something occurring or I'm alittle nervous, maybe about to
(33:50):
get on stage for a bigpresentation or something. I use
this tool, it's called 54321mediately. When you feel that
you're disconnected from thepresent moment, often there's a
signal in the body, right?
sweaty palms, lump in yourthroat racing heart pit in your
stomach, whatever that thing is.
Find five things that you cansee right around you. say them
out loud, if you have to chaircomputer planner, whatever that
(34:11):
thing is. Five things you cansee. four things you can feel.
Maybe it's your toes inside ofyour shoes or hair on the back
of your neck or your shirt onyour skin, the air on your skin,
four things you can feel threethings that you can smell.
Hopefully they smell okay.
Check yourself out, right. Twothings that you can hear. Just
(34:33):
get real still quiet.
Yeah. And one what's the insideyour mouth tastes like the
breath Welcome back. Because theamount of time that it took you
to go 54321 you weren't able toconcentrate on whatever that
thing was that you were hung upon that obsessive thought. So
again, that is a practical toolthat when you do feel spot out
(34:54):
and you feel like that thing isjust lowering you're guiding you
into this cave, you canBe like, no, here's a, here's a
way for me to stop, and thendecide to put my attention on
something else. And the lastthing that I'll say is this,
you know, if you ever feelhelpless and hopeless, and and
you're not capable of kind offiring or rewiring your thoughts
(35:16):
to decide how you got there,right, you're just so lost in
it, grounding yourself in natureis everything. I mean, it is the
greatest equalizer and thesimplest. And maybe you do all
three of those things, maybe youdo the 54321 go out in nature,
right. And then you callsomebody to talk about what the
heck is going on. Those arereally three pragmatic steps
that I think you can take, thatwill evoke a shift in you, you
(35:40):
know, when you're depressed, youknow, you certainly don't want
to get out of bed. But sometimesjust getting in the car and
going out on your own littlemini road trip around the town
can help change your state.
You know, when you're, whenyou're anxious, I think it's
oftentimes that you're trippingon whatever could would or
should happen in the future. Andso getting yourself back to the
present moment, realizing thatyou can breathe is the main
(36:03):
piece of then calming you downand getting you back to a state
where you can change hopefully,that that that head trash, but
it takes what it takes,sometimes it's sticking your
head between your knees, andhaving a panic attack. I've been
there, right? I've been there.
So whoever is listening, don'tthink that I'm over here
preaching on things that Ihaven't experienced, because
I've been that guy. And toooften I forget that I can be
(36:23):
that guy again, I have to beconsistent with my practice.
Thom Pollard (36:29):
Right on. David.
So with the adaptive trainingFoundation, is there a Are you
just, like, let's just do thisfor a while. And in five years,
we'll, you know, see, is thereany like kind of different goals
you got? Are you just like,let's just do this for a while,
we'll figure it out. It's gonnaappear.
David Vobora (36:51):
Yeah, so I definitely have a plan
personally, as well asorganizationally. I mean, the
great thing is I'm not paid, Idon't need to be paid by the
foundation. So it's a very, it'sthe most honorable, possible
volunteer CEO position. And forme, it's really culture
leadership. So I have a smallteam here, during and throughout
COVID. We've had to pivot in anumber of ways, been really
(37:11):
proud of my crew. You know, whatwe do in house programs is
really to find those certainpeople that are force
multipliers, and then work as alaboratory to then create the
outcomes that we're going todeploy and replicate in
different places geographicallyand most specifically on a
digital infrastructure. So weare currently building out the
(37:32):
adaptive training foundationsmasterclass. But it's not just a
passive masterclass of 54, selfdirected videos, 27 of which are
workouts 27, which are mindsetmindfulness, meditation,
nutrition, diet,supplementation, how to keep
progressing your goals, a wholehost of different things. But
what that does, that nine weekprogression is going to mirror
(37:53):
what we do here, but digital,but once a week, there'll be a
live interface with one of ourgraduates from our program that
are taking a cohort of 30 plusin like pathology. So example
marine is above knee amputee isnow taking those guys through
this same cohort for things likeroute meetings, they're just
done on zoom now, right likewe've done in the past. And with
(38:14):
that, we're using the resourcesgifted to sponsor not just that
digital program and building itout, but also being able to pay
our athletes that have graduatedthis program. So they can
provision for themselves andtheir families in a wellness
type of lifestyle, benefitingand paying it forward to new
athletes. So that right there isgoing to be the model that we're
going to scale and grow, youknow, nationally and
(38:36):
internationally. We're reallyexcited about that. Then we also
just shot a featured lengthdocumentary that we're going to
be entering into Sundance and anumber of other film festivals
in August, featuring an allveteran cohort that we had this
past January through March. Sothat you know, to me, I'm a
storyteller at heart.
You know, being that you havethese nine week rolling classes
(38:58):
where those that go in it nowcome back to train the next it's
like the best characterdevelopment you could ever ask
for. So a future docu series is,is we're gonna shop this
documentary, and I'm guessingwe're gonna end up with the docu
series in the future. So mypiece would be, hey, I want to
be influential to you know,produce the best storytelling at
the greatest possible reach,while also having it a product
(39:22):
that can be scaled as a hybridbetween digital infrastructure
and personal interface, that nowsuddenly we can replicate
sponsor and make sure it's stillcost free for all the
Thom Pollard (39:32):
MUSIC BED UNDERNEATH
participants.
on a tangent talking about MountEverest of all things go figure
and climbing and I learned thathe has some dreams that may or
may not include Everest in hisfuture. We talked at length
about it, and I'm going to sharethis and that part of our
(39:53):
conversation in another segmenthere and on because it's there.
But as we wind it down out ofthe
mountain climbing part of ourconversation, David share with
me a remarkable story about analtitude related event that
happened on a trip he took withfriends to smell mass, a
mountain that rises to over12,000 feet.
David Vobora (40:16):
Yeah, I think there's something really
powerful about that rare air,you know, and it's not for me.
You know, last year I was on thewest face of Snowmass in
Colorado when, with a buddy whowas climbing as 48 of the 448 14
hours in Colorado, he's actuallygetting a 72nd of the
Intercontinental us.
(40:37):
This summer in July, he went toCalifornia and it's a it's a
walk up, essentially. But it's aparty with everybody. Anyway, we
were up at 10 five or so to campand we set up camp and whatever.
And, you know, I've been on afew of these, that super
technical ones, but he suddenlyjust takes a dive. And he's, I
thought he had a stroke or someedema or whatever, like just
(40:57):
slurring and shaking and he wasburning up, but he was freezing,
you know, and we were with fourguys, they didn't have very much
climbing experience. He's ourmost experienced guy and no
guide with us. And it was justclear, like, give me the beacon,
I'm going to take him down, Iwould take him down the mountain
as fast as I can. And hecouldn't move or walk. So I just
put him on my back. And thewhole time he's he's barely
(41:21):
stuttering and saying I'm sorry.
And thank you, right, and he'scrying, I can hear him crying.
At this point, like for me totap into that, like, I wasn't
even talking to him. All I caredabout was running down this
mountain. And there's a coupleof places if you know Snowmass,
they're like Rocky, Rocky, liketo the point that I was nervous
flying down as fast as I wasbeing irresponsible for people
(41:41):
below that type of feeling, youknow, because there's that
balance of like, my friendsdying on my back. And there's
could be people that theseboulders could come down.
Anyway, I just had to look atthem and said, Brother, if we
start to fall, I'm going totackle you into the mountain.
And she's like, I'm sorry, aheadof time for tackling the
mountain because it's gonnahurt, but we're gonna get you
(42:02):
down. And, and we did. And wewere able to get him down and
get him to an ER and get fluids.
And it was a balance. He didn'thave enough electrolytes plus
altitude, plus some otherthings. But all in all, like,
you know, it doesn't have to be25,000 feet, no, for something
really terrible to happen, youknow, and that was a very, like,
(42:22):
Whoa, moment for me where I'mlike, and not in a fear based
way. But just in this, likeheightened sense of the stakes
that were at hand you know, thegut thing, going with your gut.
That's it. That's really theanswer to how how did that
evolve that? Like, where wheredoes risk, you know, where is
it? And earlier in life, I wasalways like a gut guy. But
(42:45):
earlier in life, I would pushthrough I go screw the gut, you
know, I'm just gonna push itthrough because I'm, I'm like,
young and tough and nothing'sgonna kill me. And now hell,
man, I'm, I'm just like, everyday I'm like, Yeah, baby, I made
it another day. And but now Iam. I truly believe that if
everybody really listened totheir, their, their inner
(43:08):
workings, and and made theirdecisions based on that, and
were able to clear out theclutter of maybe a friend who's
a so called friend, or aninfluence, or somebody in their
sphere, who doesn't really wantthe best for you. I would even
say family, family is thequickest to keep you in the
identity that best serves therole that you fulfill today.
(43:32):
Right? Like, if you know, again,my wife knows who she married.
So if I came home, and totally Iwas going to do Everest, we'd
have a talk, right? She wouldn'tjust go No, Hell no, that's not
happening. You know, she let medo a six days in the middle of
the Bermuda Triangle withoutfood and water on a four by four
foot life raft for Nat Geo showwhen she was pregnant with our
second. So she certainly knowswho she married. Okay.
(43:54):
All to say that like, to the gutpiece that you just teed up, you
know, I did a TED talk on this,that was interesting, because I
use science based around thebrain gut access, right. And
when I say that I'm pointing atmy both my head brain and the
gut brain. And we realized thatthe central nervous system, the
line connected to the CNS, theenteric nervous system can be
(44:14):
severed, and the entire nervouscenter which operates the gut,
that can continue to functionthat is where 90% of our
serotonin and dopamine arecreated. So if you think on
that, you have the operatingsystem of your human brain,
right? No, not communicating tothe gut and the the body will
continue to produce thesethings. And in doing that, I'd
(44:36):
say this, it's about harmonybetween the two. If you're so
gut only I would say it's gutfirst then had returned to the
gut, not head gut head becausethe head you get the head two
thirds, it's gonna do its thing.
I heard that I did a silentmeditation retreat. And it was
brilliant, super hard. I lovethe talk. And the spiritual
teacher was like, your brain islike a monkey.
(45:00):
wielding a knife drunk ontequila that just got stung by a
scorpion.
Were all like, Mind blown. Andnobody can say anything, right?
Like, that's I'm trying not tolaugh. And then he basically
said, what you do with the mindis you don't try to stop it.
You're not that powerful.
Monkey, you can't stop it. Yougive it a mirror, and suddenly
it gets curious, distracted. Andso what's the mirror for you?
(45:23):
Right? Where can you place thison the shelf, your brain in your
head, to use that intuitive gut,in harmony with where you are
and the emotional state thatyou're in, to co create with
what is in a state that soundshippie dippie, but in a state
that is your higher self. Solike, I it's almost like I use
my hands here as I'm like,building Legos. I don't have the
(45:45):
map. But it's like I put out myhand in a Lego hits it. And I
just intuitively know where toput it. That's like building in
a way that feels right. Because,you know, this brain in our
head, it seeks for safety andsurvival. It scans every four
seconds, sometimes more. And ifthat's the case, then it's
looking to preserve your life,right, protect, it's looking for
the thing that's going to tellyou not to act upon your gut.
(46:07):
But if that gut harmony is thething that allows to guide you
in a way that is it is largelydriven on right brain emotion,
that can be really beneficialwhen we over logic and pro and
con ourselves all the time. Andif you get good at the dance
between the two, then you'regoing to be living in between
them which is the heart. Don'tforget that you know the thing
(46:29):
in between is the heart if youlive from that place. Whoo.
Thom Pollard (46:38):
The adaptive training foundation in
Carrollton Texas relies on thegenerosity of individuals and
organizations and is committedto keeping its services to
adaptive athletes 100% free ofcharge and relies on the
generosity of people to not onlyrestore lives but empower people
through movement. anyonelistening that if they or
(47:01):
someone they know might benefitfrom a program at the ATF visit
their website at adaptivetraining foundation.org
The Wood Brothers (47:08):
you know how it feels now and then
I gotta happiness jones myfriend, happines jones.
Thom Pollard (47:20):
David vole, Bora Mr. relevant, changing lives
making a difference. man's gotsome soul and an understanding
of how to help people enactchanges for the better in their
own lives. David, thank you.
Stay tuned for more from ourconversation here and on my new
podcast, because it's there soonto premiere.
The Wood Brothers (47:43):
came from putting out fires.....To get
happythat ol' dragon well it comes
back mad. I got a happinessjones so bad, I got a happiness
jones
Thom Pollard (48:03):
Thank you to the woods brothers and their
management for the use of theirsong happiness Jones for our
theme song here on the HQ intotheir publicist Kevin Calabro
for helping make it all happen.
If you'd like a freedownloadable PDF of the
happiness quotient, a course inhappiness, visit me@patreon.com
slash the happiness quotient.
(48:26):
And if you find me on Applepodcasts, please subscribe. Give
me five stars if you think it'sworth it, leave a review really
helps. For more informationabout me to inquire about
personal coaching or publicspeaking in person or virtually,
please visit me at eyes openproductions calm and of course
you can write me anytime at Tomdot Dharma
(48:49):
dot pollard@gmail.com.
Remember, that which we mostwant to find can be discovered
in the place where we least wantto look and the deeper and
darker the well. the brighterthe light we will discover.
Don't curse the dark cloud. Therain inside may very well turn
your garden green.
(49:10):
Thank you for visiting thehappiness quotient. I will see
you all real soon.
The Wood Brothers (49:21):
all of those words I wrote in the storm that
rocked my boat all of that wasstuck in my throat when I was
happy all of those songs I wassingin while my boat was
sinkin next thing im thinkin'im happy i might as well change
(49:45):
my name to Happiness jones myfriend.Happiness Jones
Happy Happy Happy.
(50:13):
Happy, happy, happy, happy happyhappy happy happy
This is the happiness quotient.
Today, we'll be talking aboutthe limitless human potential
born inside of you. What it'salso about is the trials and
tribulations that often are thestimuli that force us to
(00:21):
acknowledge the truths withinus. Today, our remarkable guest
has gone from the top of hisgame, to the agony of defeat and
addiction, and in so doingdiscovered his true calling. His
name is David vo Bora, a manpicked last in the NFL draft of
2008, which earns the dubiousmoniker of Mr. irrelevant. In a
(00:45):
minute we're going to talk toDavid vo Bora. You'll see why
this is anything but a footballstory and how wrong the Mr.
Irrelevant tag was for a personwho's gone on to help countless
broken veterans who havereturned from war with 123 even
four less limbs. But as you'llsee David's Why is closing the
(01:10):
gap between who a person thinksthey are and who they are called
to be. And that takes placethrough hard work, challenge and
sweat at the adaptive trainingfoundation in Carrollton, Texas.
The Wood Brothers (01:24):
All of my wisdom came from all the
toughest days. I never learnedthing bein happy
all of my sufferin came ididnt appreciate it I never
learned a thing bein happy butto know how it feels now and
(01:44):
then.....
Thom Pollard (01:44):
I'm Thom Pollard.
I first learned about today'sguest on a story produced by the
NFL Network. It's called NFL 360and I found it on YouTube. The
story was called David vo bohracareer ending injury shaped my
passion for helping others. Thelink is in the liner notes of
this episode. I watched theepisode probably 2025 times by
(02:07):
now and I've shared it with manyof my friends. It truly moved
me. David Ville Bora is a formerNFL linebacker he was drafted
last by the St. Louis Rams,earning him the title Mr.
irrelevant. He did what very fewMr. irrelevance have ever done.
And that's earn a starting rolein his rookie season. Several
(02:31):
years into a successful career.
He sustained a significantshoulder injury during the game,
and the days ahead were overcomeby darkness and a growing
dependence on pain medication.
In the story on NFL 360 Davidsaid that he was spending
(02:51):
sometimes 1000s of dollars aweek on pain meds out of the
darkness with the tirelesssupport of his wife Sara, David
conquered his addiction. Heopened up a workout gym in
Carrollton, Texas for highperforming athletes. His career
was over but his need to trainand work with athletes had not
(03:13):
subsided one iota.
Here's where everything changed.
In January 2014, David met USArmy Staff Sergeant Travis
Mills, a quadruple amputee,David opened up his personal gym
to Travis offering his trainingexpertise, and the pair started
(03:36):
working out together customizingand adapting to the unique
challenges posed by Travis'sinjuries. through working with
Travis and engaging the veterancommunity, David developed a
passion for helping those withlife altering injuries find life
fulfilling adaptive performancetraining. David realize that
while there are many excellentrehab programs, as well as
(03:59):
adaptive Paralympic sportsorganizations, none existed to
bridge the gap from basicfunctional rehab to adapted
sport adaptive trainingFoundation, the ATF was
conceived fill this void. Theadaptive training foundation now
has a 501 c three status toallow outside support for these
(04:22):
ambitious athletes. And to thisday, ATF keeps its services 100%
free of charge to adaptiveathletes relies on the
generosity of individuals andorganizations to not only
restore broken lives, butempower growth through movement.
(04:43):
David and his team at ATF helpthose returning from a different
battlefield than the footballgridiron. The battlefield of war
of metal of explosives, his ownpersonal experience of pain and
suffering has now become avehicle to transform the lives
Have those who have beenphysically and emotionally
damaged by war. In this episode,you'll hear part of my interview
(05:07):
with David vo Bora. I'll bereleasing the balance of it in
my new podcast called, becauseit's their premiering this
month, may 2021. Stay tuned.
Here's my April 26 conversationwith David vo Bora of adaptive
training foundation.
(05:28):
That one of my favorite thingsto kind of understand, and I
still think I'm trying I'mlearning is that like,
sometimes, like really badthings have to happen in order
for us to kind of discoversomething and it's like, look at
what you have, look what you'vedone. I'm not saying your life
(05:48):
isn't going to be trouble freefor the rest of your life. But
you build something out of bloodand guts and struggle and, and
something beautiful came out,you know, and that's
David Vobora (06:02):
Yeah, it's so interesting that you use the
word bad because we all do this,right? It's this binary lens is
good or bad, right or wrong, butit's just and you know, like as
human, as a human species ashuman organisms. stimulus is
what moves us right? if we'rehonest, we're pretty lazy
species. innately, right? Yeah.
So So what is it then whenpressure resistance, I call it
(06:22):
spiritual sandpaper, right? Weasked for this the newness we
want change, and that when itcomes, we go into this fight,
flight or freeze, we lock up, wewonder if we have what it takes.
But really, Things Fall Apart tofall together to fall apart to
fall together. So my story is nodifferent than many of these
athletes. Yeah, I'm not missingan arm or a leg. Right. But life
(06:43):
doesn't discriminate. You know,we started a new cohort here
that runs our flagship nine weektraining program for people with
disabilities and trauma allcosts free. And we take them on
this journey, right in thephysical, seems like what we're
about, that's just market entry.
Right? It's about what's betweenthe ears and the limitless human
potential when you can changesomebody shifts somebody, they
(07:06):
change themselves from extrinsicvalue worth the motivation to
intrinsic, right, suddenly, theylike the person staring back at
them in the mirror, that personbecomes a force multiplier that
then pays it forward withsomeone in this anonymous
experience. And if I'm honest,Tom, and you know, this, the
human, the human experience isladen with pain, right? But that
doesn't mean you have to suffer,right? It's the narrative around
(07:29):
the pain. It's just thesensation. But the narrative
that you draw is what createsthe suffering the limiting
factors, the right and leftlateral limits, to say, well,
doctor diagnosed me as thisright, you're not going to take
this pain from me. Cool. You canhave it right. I don't want to,
but do you want to? Are you surethat there's not something
behind the reason behind thereason and that's what we evoke
in them. And through that,right, and, you know, these
(07:51):
workouts and these, you know,growth producing fear
encounters, they blossom intothis whole new person that's
kicking ass and going out thereand helping other people like
them.
Thom Pollard (08:00):
You've got these men and women coming into your
gym, who for all rights haveever just almost deserve
somebody to go, oh my god, Ifeel so bad for you. And you get
this guy, Travis Mills or anyoneelse and you're trying to knock
him over and you're like, dude,I don't care if you have no arms
(08:22):
and no legs. I don't want youfalling over and I at least you
because this is it. It's it'sbetween the ears. It's like your
your handicaps are here. Youknow? And that sounds like some
David Vobora (08:39):
that's just to say the only disability is a bad
mindset. there's a there's a boxon tape on the floor at our gym,
and it says sympathy box saysyour excuses. Your excuses are
invalid because if you wantsympathy, go stand in the box.
You're not going to get itanywhere. I don't care if your
staff sergeant Travis Mills,quadruple amputee or Rex
burkhead. Right patriots runningback who works out here
alongside these men and women.
It's really about look,compassion is everything. Right?
(09:02):
Hey, come as you are, right?
There's a belonging but don'texpect to stay that way. Right?
Like we use that term tribe andit's gotten become kind of
trendy. But I've been on teamsteam has a roster, right? It's
an organizational chart rolesand responsibilities positions.
But that doesn't really talkabout empowering people to show
up for themselves inside of thatlarger why a tribe to me makes
(09:25):
the, you know, most leastexperience, most experience most
impaired, you know, leastqualified person and they're
they're integral parts of thesome of the whole tribe, right?
And then all of a sudden,they're like, Wow, man, my story
matters. And that ability totell your story is proof that
you're going beyond it right?
Like if if you are so hung up onthe fact that the doctor told
you you would never blink,right? You're certainly not
(09:48):
going to believe that it's evenpossible and then you see
somebody to your right and leftin this gym doing it right. And
it blows your mind to go Wait asecond. What if that person a
lab coat although they did go toschool
spend a lot of money for theirschooling. They're not God.
Right? Let's just do the work.
And we'll see, see what happens?
I don't know, right? We don'tknow until we throw the hat in
(10:08):
the ring and give it a shot. Mmhmm. The essence of what I like
to talk to people about like thepeople I've usually become
friends with and is when we cango off on this meandering path.
And it's always about like, whatindividuals are truly capable of
when they put their mind to itis beyond belief, you know? And,
(10:31):
and we never know until we tryto go there and sometimes it
starts in the pit of like thebottom of the well. Yeah,
usually does, man that's why I'ma champion to the underdogs.
That was my story, right? Yousaid skinny pencil neck kid
growing up in Eugene, Oregon.
One D one scholarship to Idaho.
I took it because I wanted toplay at the highest level Pop's
(10:51):
was a D one player in Oregon,ended up you know, being the
last pic drafted in the NFL,right? It was always Hey,
David's good. But is he goodenough to take that next step.
So I always had this chip on myshoulder. But it wasn't until I
started meeting these athletesthat they actually gave me
permission to go into some ofthe dark places of my own psyche
and my own soul to deal withsome past traumas. And again,
(11:13):
when I say like, inspirationwashes off, you could watch an
awesome YouTube video. Buteventually, it doesn't work the
same way as the first time youwatched it. So what do you do to
aspire? How do you take what youobserve and others? And then
say, Man, like, I think there'ssomething in me, right? What I
seek is inside of me, and wheream I willing to go to grow it.
And it oftentimes is thisparadoxical truth that it's not
(11:37):
through force. It's not through,you know, power or strength.
It's in that funny word,surrender, that just hate,
right, that acceptance, and thenthe ability to transcend that
through vulnerability, man,like, if courage is action, in
the face of fear, I want tosurround myself by people acting
in the face of danger or fear.
Because that flow, the presentmoment, which is all we really
(12:00):
have, that is suddenly a way torelate to everything happening
in front of you or around you,but you still have your breath,
right? You can still groundyourself in that moment and say,
wait a second, even though, youknow, there's false evidence
appearing real is triggeringthis, this very parasympathetic
nervous state thing. If I justtake one conscious breath,
(12:23):
try to find the silence beneathit all. Well, what remains,
right? And then if I can startfrom that point, right, it's,
it's almost the genesis of wherereal life is. And if you can
find that consistently, you canconsciously respond rather than
unconsciously react to all thestimuli in your life, we are
stressed out all the time, Idon't care if it's somebody
(12:44):
cutting you off on the freeway,or a freakin bear, you know, out
on a trail of both or getting tosimulate a reaction, we just
want to be in control and thegovernor over that, then we're,
you know, better total human.
And the people that we careabout will feel the benefit of
that. And when we pour intoourselves, the benefit is that
it's going to elevate all thosearound us. It's this dichotomy.
I call it healthy, selfish,there's this blending of, again,
(13:07):
why do I put my basketball firston the airplane? You know, it's
like, it doesn't make sense ifthere's a kid next to you, but
you have to do that to have achance to help anybody else.
Thom Pollard (13:17):
You. You you had some, you know, there was some
You're the one of the guys whoactually achieved your dreams
young, you know, and this iswhat makes your story to me
really interesting. It's like,you grew up a kid you wanted to
be a professional footballplayer. And you nailed it. I
mean, by the hair, your chinnychin chin, right, you but you
got in man, and then you'restarting and and and you know,
(13:41):
and then it ended, you know,hate men, you know, football
careers. What is the average athree year career so you, you
did it? And so redefining youridentity sounds like that's
where we got into some. Youknow, it's like, how do you
redefine your identity afterthat's all you put in your life?
Well, I don't know. Explainthat. Like how do you come out
(14:03):
of that?
David Vobora (14:04):
Yeah, you know, it was tunnel vision for success,
you know, my one track mind orwhat I said yes or no to
everything revolved aroundsuccess in football. And again,
being able to have a respectableNFL career, especially as the
last pick and kind of changingthe statistics on Mr. Relevant
but to me, I did, I did morethan some but less than most is
how I say it. And I and I usethat I stole that from a Navy
SEAL mentor of mine. And it'sinteresting to me as I think
(14:27):
about my my football career,because,
you know, it was largely themask that I wore that I used to,
to gain applause so that nobodyasked me what the heck was
really going on under thesurface. You know, I am bold and
outspoken about being sexuallyabused as a young boy. It took
me almost two decades to admitthat that even occurred, I
(14:49):
stuffed it so deep. And then inmen in acknowledging it. I was
kinda like, okay, it's out good.
I'm done with that. No, no, no,hold on, right. That's where the
real workbegan. And so over the past
years working with cliniciansworking with therapists, working
with coaches developing ameditation practice, you know,
putting my stuff out there wherethese these athletes I serve no
(15:09):
longer put me on a pedestal,right? And they go, Wow, okay,
wait a second, it's this idea ofwading into the water with them
not standing at the shore andgoing, Hey, I know it's better
just go go a little further. Youknow, like everything that I've
created, this gym was out ofwhat I watched my parents do,
living in compassion in churchand picking up homeless people
(15:29):
and people with disabilities andbringing them to church.
Football, that that atmosphere,this camaraderie, the locker
room, the Brotherhood, all that.
And then kind of thisredefinition from again, you
reach this Pinnacle, you know,you're used to this structure
that x, y equals z, and runningdown the field on kickoff, you
could never ever replicate afeeling like that. I don't think
(15:49):
maybe, maybe on the Hillary stepwas such
a little, little doses of it.
Yeah. But all to say it's like,you get to that place, and then
I have a gnarly shoulder injury.
And it was just easier than toask the hard question, it was
easier to stuff my mouth full ofpain medication and drugs to to
cope with the identity crisis,right. And it's that's not that,
(16:11):
that that and just different, Iguess from what these whether
they're warriors coming fromgiving orders, taking orders
being on the battlefield, andthen suddenly being ripped from
that quite literally limbs beingblown off, and then suddenly be
like, Wait, who that Who thehell am I to, you know, car
accidents, to, you know, alsdiagnosis, stroke, what you name
(16:32):
it, you know, and that's where Ithink, my opportunity to use my
background in psychology, right,this is sweat psychology, we use
weights and conditioning tolearn about ourselves, right?
You can use large mountains andaltitude to learn about
yourself. There's a lot ofdifferent ways to put yourself
into an ecosystem to grow. Butwhen you can do it with people
that I think,you know, it's incredibly
(16:54):
inclusive, different race,gender, sexual preference, age,
veteran civilian, it says thisfusion like there's even my
church, and I love my church,there's, there's very few places
that I feel like I walk into aplace and I go, Wow, there is
the full spectrum here. And abunch of people that are looking
at each other as human beings,trying to better themselves.
(17:14):
That's the only part of accessthat matters. And I think that
that's a model for especiallytoday's society, where man, we
can learn so much through thelens of social injustice through
the lens of, you know, payequality through I mean, I could
go on and on and on, I just feelthat the gym, when you suffer a
little bit together and sweat alittle bit together, you like I
don't care what beer can bepurple polka dot, like, I'm
(17:37):
going to give you a knockos aswe walk out of this thing,
because together, we justaccomplished something. So I
think that to me, is where I'veback to the redefinition.
I consider myselfWell, I'd say 'My Why', my why
is helping people close the gapbetween who they think they are,
and who they're called to be.
(17:58):
And that to me is, is gettingthem to see themselves the way
that we see them, becausethey've they've just identified
with whatever was or arestruggling to. And the parts
that they're resisting is wherethe real gift of their
uniqueness is, like today atorientation, a bunch of athletes
with a bad posture. They said,Well, I just want to feel normal
again, I want to get back tofeeling like me. And I had to
(18:18):
interrupt him like, hey, if Iwalked up to you, Tom, and I
said, hey, you're really normal.
You're just a normal normal guy.
That's not a compliment. That'san insult. Right? Yeah. That
that difference between normalYeah, and uncommon. uncommon is
what we're, I think what we'researching for, because even if I
could regrow your legs, you'renot coming back to here, I'm
(18:39):
going to catapult you way overhere to the abundance of new
opportunity experiences, whichfollow me here. experiences,
change beliefs, would shiftbehaviors and change results. If
you just try to shift tobehavior and change your
results. It's not going tostick. I don't care if that's
quitting smoking, or quitting,whatever. It's about the
experience first, that thenchanges that intrinsic belief
(19:00):
that now that behaviors, it'slike, why would I go back to
that note that no longer servesme? So that's the magic. And I
personally tried to do it in myown life. If not, How the hell
can I tell them to do it?
Thom Pollard (19:10):
Exactly. Yeah.
So so a veteran goes to theadaptive training foundation.
And I know you have like thesemodules kind of right. They
might come in in a group andstart like, do a nine week or,
you know, not necessarily theaverage guy, but like, what,
(19:31):
what, Blitz, let's say one ofthe individuals who's really
comes in down and out, you can'tgo from zero to 60 on day one.
So kind of how does that happen?
David Vobora (19:44):
Yeah, it's nuanced. It's it's fluid
leadership, right? So you haveto present a stimulus, a stress
or some exercise, right? Andthen you have to watch them both
biomechanically and physically,but also seeing how they react
when they're at that rep, thatseemingly
is their threshold? And again,are they using anger to push
through with a yell? That'sokay. Right? Are they you see
(20:06):
emotion on the surface, right?
We've used visualization. Imean, I remember one of my
law enforcement, FBI, DeputyDirector of homicide, amazing
dude fell through a roof on ahomicide call, it loses his bow
above knee, leg above knee, whenI got him a beautiful wife and
family. And he was swinging thesledge hitting this tire. And he
(20:27):
didn't he did. The first stepwas okay, I walked over to him,
I just whispered in his ear. Isaid, Hey, this next one, I want
you to visualize every singletime that you snapped on your
kids, since this happened go.
kind of looked at me. But okay,right. Bang, turn it up a little
bit, then I whisper in his ear.
On the next one. I said, Hey,this time, it's every time you
snapped on your wife. And he gota little bit more. And you can
see that emotion. And the lasttime and I didn't even know
(20:48):
this. We hadn't talked aboutthis. I said this last time, I
want you to do this set. Forthose times when you took as
much sleeping meds and as muchpain pills, hope you didn't wake
up and do the floodgates opentears streaming down his face.
And he had a theory right thathe was releasing those things.
So how do we connect mind body,right, the body keeps the score
when that emotional stickinessgets stuck. Because we're
(21:11):
holding on to different versionsof ourselves. We are speaking a
language that they don't speak.
So the translation is how theyfeel it in their physical body,
right and then giving them cuesto discover an awareness a level
of consciousness that then theysee what was formerly
unconscious, right? And thenthat they can make a competent
choice to decide. Because here'sthe problem. People think that
(21:32):
our emotions or feelings are notup to us know where we put our
attention. Where we put ourfocus derives our emotions and
feelings. And if we can start tobecome the watcher of our own
thoughts, that little voice inour head that's not paying rent,
the slave driver, the one thatsays you'll never you can't they
don't love you, you won't,right? We start to use a firming
(21:52):
language replace that. It'sreally this like, it takes what
it takes in nine weeks,sometimes by week to boom, it
clicks for somebody and you seenow Okay, now they're not just
at the stream, now they'redrinking it. Now we can take
them a little deeper. Yeah, soit's this. It's this fluid,
poetic art of being a humanbeing and relating to them and
pushing them right to thatbrink. But then also making sure
(22:14):
that you earn their trust sothat they're willing to tell you
about what's between thoseyears. And it's, it's, it's the
most fun thing that I get to dois witness people as they break
through.
Thom Pollard (22:27):
Um, we kept it to me, it just seems like I have to
ask you a little bit aboutTravis Mills. Because, um, he he
just appeared at the right timeyou guys cross. I mean, I mean,
you might have seen a weekbefore or a month later, and
this story might not havehappened so so when when you saw
(22:49):
him, were you still using youknow, painkillers? Or were you
kind of cleaned out? Just
David Vobora (22:56):
I was totally clean. Yeah, so I quick timeline
linear timeline here. 2012 wasmy year away from football and
got cleaned up, got off all thepills, had a couple of surgeries
and get the body fixed a littlebit. I was training to come
back. And actually when I gotthe call to return I, for the
first time I didn't just thinkhere was got and I said man,
(23:18):
it's time for me to step awayfrom the game made that decision
decided to move from OrangeCounty Down here to Texas to
start the gym. And I've beendoing the gym in 2013. But not
adaptive athletes. It was justperformance athletes, Olympians
and college athletes and such.
And then again, I the connectthe dots here, the god winks
along the way are crazy. Andthat's what I tell people like
(23:39):
you could have the perfectformula or plan. But it's about
being head up, eyes open, handsopen, because you got to see
being able to catch the miracleright in front of you. And in
this case, this Navy SEALallowed me space in his back
warehouse and in to starttraining athletes and then I
went to a surprise birthdayparty for him. And Travis shows
up I didn't know who TravisMills was I did. I don't think I
(24:00):
even knew an amputee at thetime. I've never met one and and
then as the story goes, hestrolls in on his prosthetics.
And I rudely broke away fromwhoever I was talking to you and
I beeline for him like hotchicken, the bar, as I say, and
ask him that question. You know,what was the last time you
worked out? And he asked if Ihad experience I told him no,
and I just owned it. I think sooften, we skirt around what we
(24:22):
actually want by saying thingsthat are supposed to like assume
that the person knows, bedirect, you know, take a chance
on yourself and others by justgoing like I feel this gut pull.
And I'm going to honor that Iaction. And that's what I did.
And again, it was like Travisworking out when the discovery
(24:42):
of how he can move his body andwe could program workouts for
him. I just watched everybodylose their excuse to the gym.
Everyone elevated their ownpotential. And I said, Man, what
if we could do this on a largerscale and this inclusive that
inclusive atmosphere that couldbreed
So much growth in so many peoplebecause our our ATF athletes are
(25:04):
soul mirrors, you know, youcan't walk out of the gym and
not have to look at yourself inthe mirror differently. And
that's the I think the benefitof weaving people from such
crazy. I mean, one of theathletes in this current class,
you wouldn't believe this spinalcord injury in 2016 because her
husband ex husband, tried toshoot her did shoot her gay
(25:27):
spinal cord injury, paralyzedfrom the waist down. Now, hold
on. Fast forward three years,this is literally 2019 and she's
getting married to her secondhusband. Well, wedding night,
exhausted, you know, I've beenpartying drugs now called
involved. She literally herRottweiler, and I kid you not
(25:47):
chewed her foot off, chewed herfoot off, dude on her wedding
night. This girls are in ourcurrent class. Now we do have
her doing some things. Weactually got her in a little bit
before doing some thingsprivately. And she's already
making incredible strides. Butyou can't make this stuff up.
Right? Like it's jaw droppingstuff that you're just like,
man, I don't know why this stuffoccurs. But this is why this
(26:09):
thing was created point beingthat chance intersection with
Travis Mills, that has nowcreated a whole movement.
There's all kinds of gyms now,including adaptive athletes, and
that makes me so freakin happy.
Thom Pollard (26:21):
Yeah, wow, that I mean, you know, it, we people
just want to be frickin lovedfor who they are with all their
faults. And I think, you know,what happens is, and it's okay,
but people grow up and theybecome adults. And they didn't
have a chance to work their crapout. And they just take it out
(26:43):
on other people. And so there'sthis kind of this vicious cycle.
And then occasionally, you know,not occasionally but but you
don't, maybe not enough. Peoplecan see through that they see
through the pain, their ownphysical limitations and mental
limitations. And say, like, no,I can I can be like an agent of
(27:05):
change on one individual's life.
Maybe it's just mine.
But if but, and and, and dudeand Travis Mills was was about
you it more than it was abouthim. I mean, you were just
insanely curious. It was like, Ican't get away from you. Let's
just try this. And all of asudden, you both just want a
(27:26):
couple of samples. And that's,that's beautiful, because you
were willing to be weak orwilling to be vulnerable or
something. That's a big step.
Man, that's a big step. It'seasier
to drink a beer or to shootsomething into your veins. If
you know I'm not really but butlet's just kill the pain instead
(27:50):
of me being vulnerable. Becauseif I'm vulnerable, then people
know the truth about me. Well,what's What truth? What what
would that what truth are youtalking about? There is not a
human being on this planet whoisn't you know, capable of
malevolence or evil or, orunkind actions me you. But it's
(28:10):
I can we can above the base andus and at least die a little bit
better, more evolved than whenwe were born. That's all I ask.
Much.
David Vobora (28:21):
Preach, preach.
Give me goosebumps over here. Ilove that quote, The all the
devils, all the angels, all theheavens, all the hills are
within us. You know, JordanPeterson talks a lot about that
dichotomy of, you know, as muchJesus as much Hitler. Right.
It's all it's all within. And soI think the word that comes up
to me is permission. Permissionto be where you are. Right here
(28:44):
right now. Right? And I thinkabout what the image in my head
is, is Robin Williams and MattDamon and goodwill hunting,
right? When they're when he hugshim, and we'll try to push back
and he's like, it's not yourfault. He's like, gay, okay. No,
no, it's it's not it's not yourfault. It's not your fault,
right. And then and as Mattcomes apart, right, like, that
(29:05):
is what we do is just done anorchestrated in a vastly
different way.
But it's the same Crux, which islove, man. And it's love,
because it will, it is that itis the energy state in the state
of receivership where if you canget somebody into that register,
man,their pain threshold changes,
(29:26):
the ability to see they coulddrive past the same thing every
day and see something for thefirst time. Right? It's this
disruption in the typical, thisis how I was supposed to operate
because somebody told me thatit's this. It's this new
agreement with themselves thathey, look, even if it's that I
have kids, and I want to bebetter for them. That's a reason
(29:47):
but that's not the route. Likewe have these meetings twice
during this nine week coursethat we call route meetings and
we lock in, it's just theathlete and the staff and we
talk about it.
You know, guys reaching everynight for the bourbon, you know,
the Bourbons a problem, butthere's a reason behind the
reason for the reach. And how dowe unveil those things? How do
we uproot those things? And thenonce we do, it's crazy, because
(30:10):
guys, I mean, we had a Navy vetwho shared about his own sexual
traumas as a kid, and he'd beenmarried 31 years never even told
his wife, any of that occurred,right, but felt good enough in
the circle. And then at the end,everybody writes down the thing
that we're going to go out backand we burn in this trash can.
But before they burn it, theyhave to write it down, and then
to show somebody next to them,and they say, hey, if I, if you
(30:33):
see me pick this up, call meout. Because I no longer picking
this up. I'm burning the ships,right. And maybe that's the
shame or guilt associated withblank with their accident, their
injuries, something that youknow, survivor's guilt, where
the people next to them didn'tcome home. And that's I think,
again, like, you can go andexercise. And that's, that's
great. That's market entry. Butit's really getting back to that
(30:56):
root of vulnerability. How areyou willing to kind of
annihilate your ego throughpractice vulnerability that is
authentic, not convenient, whereI'm telling my story, like, Look
at me, look at me, it'sliterally being like, yo, my
messes your mess, your message,my message here. And like that
posture is huge. It is, for me,the quickest way that I see my
(31:20):
perspective shift. And, youknow, there's tons of self
development books, and there'stons of podcasts and other
things. But if you can't stopand look at yourself in the
mirror without breaking eyecontact for 2, 3, 4 minutes, ask
yourself why be okay withwhatever comes up, that is a
task and a tool that is achallenge to anyone listening.
(31:42):
You might be surprised whatcomes up, you might get really
emotional, you might get reallyangry, you might not be able to
maintain eye contact, don'tjudge yourself for whatever
comes up. But ask yourself,well, what's behind that? You
know, the reason behind thereason for these things is where
we find our superpowers. Andthat's what led me on this, this
path that I could have neverever expected and I'm certainly
(32:03):
grateful to be on it.
Thom Pollard (32:05):
Incredible. Well, that's, that's amazing. And
actually, I love that so I'm,that's the challenge for our
listeners, the three to fourminutes go and look in the
mirror. I usually, I typicallydon't do that I go on my like,
you know, your flies on zip. Oh,damn it again. You know, like, I
just I should look in the mirrormore often, right? But, uh, you
(32:28):
know, soa lot of people are out there
and listening. And I hope asmany people as possible can hear
this.
The challenge just to be moreexceptional. You know, where
somebody is in a marine vet orsomeone isn't, you know, an
amputee, they're, you know, inVermont or in, you know, Oregon
(32:53):
and some place of their own kindof slight suffering. What What,
what do they do you reach out toanother individual, what, what's
what's salvation, for anindividual who's feeling alone,
you know,
David Vobora (33:07):
the first step is not making salvation, a thing
that's out in front, becauseit's right here right now. Yeah,
right here, right now, the graceis sufficient. You just have to
give yourself permission. I saythis, often, the prison door has
been unlocked the whole time.
You just didn't want to push onit. You were the one right, who
locked yourself in there. And itwasn't even ever locked. So
encouragement to reach out tosomebody that's trusted. Of
(33:29):
course, I think that when youget these things out that
fester, you know that stillsmall voice at 2am that weighs
on you. If you just start bysharing it with a trusted
individual, it lessens its powerover your its grip. You know, I
use little tools. Here's apractical pragmatic when I speak
about often, what I feel spotout, maybe it's because of
something occurring or I'm alittle nervous, maybe about to
(33:50):
get on stage for a bigpresentation or something. I use
this tool, it's called 54321mediately. When you feel that
you're disconnected from thepresent moment, often there's a
signal in the body, right?
sweaty palms, lump in yourthroat racing heart pit in your
stomach, whatever that thing is.
Find five things that you cansee right around you. say them
out loud, if you have to chaircomputer planner, whatever that
(34:11):
thing is. Five things you cansee. four things you can feel.
Maybe it's your toes inside ofyour shoes or hair on the back
of your neck or your shirt onyour skin, the air on your skin,
four things you can feel threethings that you can smell.
Hopefully they smell okay.
Check yourself out, right. Twothings that you can hear. Just
(34:33):
get real still quiet.
Yeah. And one what's the insideyour mouth tastes like the
breath Welcome back. Because theamount of time that it took you
to go 54321 you weren't able toconcentrate on whatever that
thing was that you were hung upon that obsessive thought. So
again, that is a practical toolthat when you do feel spot out
(34:54):
and you feel like that thing isjust lowering you're guiding you
into this cave, you canBe like, no, here's a, here's a
way for me to stop, and thendecide to put my attention on
something else. And the lastthing that I'll say is this,
you know, if you ever feelhelpless and hopeless, and and
you're not capable of kind offiring or rewiring your thoughts
(35:16):
to decide how you got there,right, you're just so lost in
it, grounding yourself in natureis everything. I mean, it is the
greatest equalizer and thesimplest. And maybe you do all
three of those things, maybe youdo the 54321 go out in nature,
right. And then you callsomebody to talk about what the
heck is going on. Those arereally three pragmatic steps
that I think you can take, thatwill evoke a shift in you, you
(35:40):
know, when you're depressed, youknow, you certainly don't want
to get out of bed. But sometimesjust getting in the car and
going out on your own littlemini road trip around the town
can help change your state.
You know, when you're, whenyou're anxious, I think it's
oftentimes that you're trippingon whatever could would or
should happen in the future. Andso getting yourself back to the
present moment, realizing thatyou can breathe is the main
(36:03):
piece of then calming you downand getting you back to a state
where you can change hopefully,that that that head trash, but
it takes what it takes,sometimes it's sticking your
head between your knees, andhaving a panic attack. I've been
there, right? I've been there.
So whoever is listening, don'tthink that I'm over here
preaching on things that Ihaven't experienced, because
I've been that guy. And toooften I forget that I can be
(36:23):
that guy again, I have to beconsistent with my practice.
Thom Pollard (36:29):
Right on. David.
So with the adaptive trainingFoundation, is there a Are you
just, like, let's just do thisfor a while. And in five years,
we'll, you know, see, is thereany like kind of different goals
you got? Are you just like,let's just do this for a while,
we'll figure it out. It's gonnaappear.
David Vobora (36:51):
Yeah, so I definitely have a plan
personally, as well asorganizationally. I mean, the
great thing is I'm not paid, Idon't need to be paid by the
foundation. So it's a very, it'sthe most honorable, possible
volunteer CEO position. And forme, it's really culture
leadership. So I have a smallteam here, during and throughout
COVID. We've had to pivot in anumber of ways, been really
(37:11):
proud of my crew. You know, whatwe do in house programs is
really to find those certainpeople that are force
multipliers, and then work as alaboratory to then create the
outcomes that we're going todeploy and replicate in
different places geographicallyand most specifically on a
digital infrastructure. So weare currently building out the
(37:32):
adaptive training foundationsmasterclass. But it's not just a
passive masterclass of 54, selfdirected videos, 27 of which are
workouts 27, which are mindsetmindfulness, meditation,
nutrition, diet,supplementation, how to keep
progressing your goals, a wholehost of different things. But
what that does, that nine weekprogression is going to mirror
(37:53):
what we do here, but digital,but once a week, there'll be a
live interface with one of ourgraduates from our program that
are taking a cohort of 30 plusin like pathology. So example
marine is above knee amputee isnow taking those guys through
this same cohort for things likeroute meetings, they're just
done on zoom now, right likewe've done in the past. And with
(38:14):
that, we're using the resourcesgifted to sponsor not just that
digital program and building itout, but also being able to pay
our athletes that have graduatedthis program. So they can
provision for themselves andtheir families in a wellness
type of lifestyle, benefitingand paying it forward to new
athletes. So that right there isgoing to be the model that we're
going to scale and grow, youknow, nationally and
(38:36):
internationally. We're reallyexcited about that. Then we also
just shot a featured lengthdocumentary that we're going to
be entering into Sundance and anumber of other film festivals
in August, featuring an allveteran cohort that we had this
past January through March. Sothat you know, to me, I'm a
storyteller at heart.
You know, being that you havethese nine week rolling classes
(38:58):
where those that go in it nowcome back to train the next it's
like the best characterdevelopment you could ever ask
for. So a future docu series is,is we're gonna shop this
documentary, and I'm guessingwe're gonna end up with the docu
series in the future. So mypiece would be, hey, I want to
be influential to you know,produce the best storytelling at
the greatest possible reach,while also having it a product
(39:22):
that can be scaled as a hybridbetween digital infrastructure
and personal interface, that nowsuddenly we can replicate
sponsor and make sure it's stillcost free for all the
Thom Pollard (39:32):
MUSIC BED UNDERNEATH
participants.
on a tangent talking about MountEverest of all things go figure
and climbing and I learned thathe has some dreams that may or
may not include Everest in hisfuture. We talked at length
about it, and I'm going to sharethis and that part of our
(39:53):
conversation in another segmenthere and on because it's there.
But as we wind it down out ofthe
mountain climbing part of ourconversation, David share with
me a remarkable story about analtitude related event that
happened on a trip he took withfriends to smell mass, a
mountain that rises to over12,000 feet.
David Vobora (40:16):
Yeah, I think there's something really
powerful about that rare air,you know, and it's not for me.
You know, last year I was on thewest face of Snowmass in
Colorado when, with a buddy whowas climbing as 48 of the 448 14
hours in Colorado, he's actuallygetting a 72nd of the
Intercontinental us.
(40:37):
This summer in July, he went toCalifornia and it's a it's a
walk up, essentially. But it's aparty with everybody. Anyway, we
were up at 10 five or so to campand we set up camp and whatever.
And, you know, I've been on afew of these, that super
technical ones, but he suddenlyjust takes a dive. And he's, I
thought he had a stroke or someedema or whatever, like just
(40:57):
slurring and shaking and he wasburning up, but he was freezing,
you know, and we were with fourguys, they didn't have very much
climbing experience. He's ourmost experienced guy and no
guide with us. And it was justclear, like, give me the beacon,
I'm going to take him down, Iwould take him down the mountain
as fast as I can. And hecouldn't move or walk. So I just
put him on my back. And thewhole time he's he's barely
(41:21):
stuttering and saying I'm sorry.
And thank you, right, and he'scrying, I can hear him crying.
At this point, like for me totap into that, like, I wasn't
even talking to him. All I caredabout was running down this
mountain. And there's a coupleof places if you know Snowmass,
they're like Rocky, Rocky, liketo the point that I was nervous
flying down as fast as I wasbeing irresponsible for people
(41:41):
below that type of feeling, youknow, because there's that
balance of like, my friendsdying on my back. And there's
could be people that theseboulders could come down.
Anyway, I just had to look atthem and said, Brother, if we
start to fall, I'm going totackle you into the mountain.
And she's like, I'm sorry, aheadof time for tackling the
mountain because it's gonnahurt, but we're gonna get you
(42:02):
down. And, and we did. And wewere able to get him down and
get him to an ER and get fluids.
And it was a balance. He didn'thave enough electrolytes plus
altitude, plus some otherthings. But all in all, like,
you know, it doesn't have to be25,000 feet, no, for something
really terrible to happen, youknow, and that was a very, like,
(42:22):
Whoa, moment for me where I'mlike, and not in a fear based
way. But just in this, likeheightened sense of the stakes
that were at hand you know, thegut thing, going with your gut.
That's it. That's really theanswer to how how did that
evolve that? Like, where wheredoes risk, you know, where is
it? And earlier in life, I wasalways like a gut guy. But
(42:45):
earlier in life, I would pushthrough I go screw the gut, you
know, I'm just gonna push itthrough because I'm, I'm like,
young and tough and nothing'sgonna kill me. And now hell,
man, I'm, I'm just like, everyday I'm like, Yeah, baby, I made
it another day. And but now Iam. I truly believe that if
everybody really listened totheir, their, their inner
(43:08):
workings, and and made theirdecisions based on that, and
were able to clear out theclutter of maybe a friend who's
a so called friend, or aninfluence, or somebody in their
sphere, who doesn't really wantthe best for you. I would even
say family, family is thequickest to keep you in the
identity that best serves therole that you fulfill today.
(43:32):
Right? Like, if you know, again,my wife knows who she married.
So if I came home, and totally Iwas going to do Everest, we'd
have a talk, right? She wouldn'tjust go No, Hell no, that's not
happening. You know, she let medo a six days in the middle of
the Bermuda Triangle withoutfood and water on a four by four
foot life raft for Nat Geo showwhen she was pregnant with our
second. So she certainly knowswho she married. Okay.
(43:54):
All to say that like, to the gutpiece that you just teed up, you
know, I did a TED talk on this,that was interesting, because I
use science based around thebrain gut access, right. And
when I say that I'm pointing atmy both my head brain and the
gut brain. And we realized thatthe central nervous system, the
line connected to the CNS, theenteric nervous system can be
(44:14):
severed, and the entire nervouscenter which operates the gut,
that can continue to functionthat is where 90% of our
serotonin and dopamine arecreated. So if you think on
that, you have the operatingsystem of your human brain,
right? No, not communicating tothe gut and the the body will
continue to produce thesethings. And in doing that, I'd
(44:36):
say this, it's about harmonybetween the two. If you're so
gut only I would say it's gutfirst then had returned to the
gut, not head gut head becausethe head you get the head two
thirds, it's gonna do its thing.
I heard that I did a silentmeditation retreat. And it was
brilliant, super hard. I lovethe talk. And the spiritual
teacher was like, your brain islike a monkey.
(45:00):
wielding a knife drunk ontequila that just got stung by a
scorpion.
Were all like, Mind blown. Andnobody can say anything, right?
Like, that's I'm trying not tolaugh. And then he basically
said, what you do with the mindis you don't try to stop it.
You're not that powerful.
Monkey, you can't stop it. Yougive it a mirror, and suddenly
it gets curious, distracted. Andso what's the mirror for you?
(45:23):
Right? Where can you place thison the shelf, your brain in your
head, to use that intuitive gut,in harmony with where you are
and the emotional state thatyou're in, to co create with
what is in a state that soundshippie dippie, but in a state
that is your higher self. Solike, I it's almost like I use
my hands here as I'm like,building Legos. I don't have the
(45:45):
map. But it's like I put out myhand in a Lego hits it. And I
just intuitively know where toput it. That's like building in
a way that feels right. Because,you know, this brain in our
head, it seeks for safety andsurvival. It scans every four
seconds, sometimes more. And ifthat's the case, then it's
looking to preserve your life,right, protect, it's looking for
the thing that's going to tellyou not to act upon your gut.
(46:07):
But if that gut harmony is thething that allows to guide you
in a way that is it is largelydriven on right brain emotion,
that can be really beneficialwhen we over logic and pro and
con ourselves all the time. Andif you get good at the dance
between the two, then you'regoing to be living in between
them which is the heart. Don'tforget that you know the thing
(46:29):
in between is the heart if youlive from that place. Whoo.
Thom Pollard (46:38):
The adaptive training foundation in
Carrollton Texas relies on thegenerosity of individuals and
organizations and is committedto keeping its services to
adaptive athletes 100% free ofcharge and relies on the
generosity of people to not onlyrestore lives but empower people
through movement. anyonelistening that if they or
(47:01):
someone they know might benefitfrom a program at the ATF visit
their website at adaptivetraining foundation.org
The Wood Brothers (47:08):
you know how it feels now and then
I gotta happiness jones myfriend, happines jones.
Thom Pollard (47:20):
David vole, Bora Mr. relevant, changing lives
making a difference. man's gotsome soul and an understanding
of how to help people enactchanges for the better in their
own lives. David, thank you.
Stay tuned for more from ourconversation here and on my new
podcast, because it's there soonto premiere.
The Wood Brothers (47:43):
came from putting out fires.....To get
happythat ol' dragon well it comes
back mad. I got a happinessjones so bad, I got a happiness
jones
Thom Pollard (48:03):
Thank you to the woods brothers and their
management for the use of theirsong happiness Jones for our
theme song here on the HQ intotheir publicist Kevin Calabro
for helping make it all happen.
If you'd like a freedownloadable PDF of the
happiness quotient, a course inhappiness, visit me@patreon.com
slash the happiness quotient.
(48:26):
And if you find me on Applepodcasts, please subscribe. Give
me five stars if you think it'sworth it, leave a review really
helps. For more informationabout me to inquire about
personal coaching or publicspeaking in person or virtually,
please visit me at eyes openproductions calm and of course
you can write me anytime at Tomdot Dharma
(48:49):
dot pollard@gmail.com.
Remember, that which we mostwant to find can be discovered
in the place where we least wantto look and the deeper and
darker the well. the brighterthe light we will discover.
Don't curse the dark cloud. Therain inside may very well turn
your garden green.
(49:10):
Thank you for visiting thehappiness quotient. I will see
you all real soon.
The Wood Brothers (49:21):
all of those words I wrote in the storm that
rocked my boat all of that wasstuck in my throat when I was
happy all of those songs I wassingin while my boat was
sinkin next thing im thinkin'im happy i might as well change
(49:45):
my name to Happiness jones myfriend.Happiness Jones
Happy Happy Happy.
(50:13):
Happy, happy, happy, happy happyhappy happy happy
Popular Podcasts
United States of Kennedy
United States of Kennedy is a podcast about our cultural fascination with the Kennedy dynasty. Every week, hosts Lyra Smith and George Civeris go into one aspect of the Kennedy story.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com