November 5, 2025 • 66 mins
Eight more quality years of life from better balance sounds bold, but the data backs it up—and the stories bring it home. I sit down with Dan Metcalfe from Total Balance Company to unpack why mobility isn’t just about stronger quads or a tighter core. It starts in the brain. When fear slows reactions and frays the brain-to-body wiring, even simple movements feel risky. When safety signals are present, the cerebellum fires cleanly, confidence returns, and your whole system speeds up.
We dig into the myth of “muscle memory” and the truth of neuron memory, exploring how electrical impulses and proprioception govern every step, turn, and reach. Dan shares how a 79-year-old went from a careful shuffle to running six miles per hour in three weeks, and why handles on a gentle balance board mimic the way babies learn to walk—safe support that frees the brain to explore. Static tests recruit a handful of brain regions; dynamic balance lights up more than 18, turning errors into neuroplasticity and carryover gains you can feel in class, on stage, or at work.
This conversation spans athletes managing re-injury fear, young parents pressed for time, and seniors who want to thrive rather than tiptoe through their days. We talk foot training as the “control center,” why toes matter for quick direction changes, and how blind and deaf students improve coordination through a unified brain-body system. Dan’s stories—stroke recovery back to line dancing, an 80-something’s first ballet class, a return to pain-free walking—make the science practical and hopeful. If you want mobility that lasts, start with your brain. Prime it with 10 minutes of dynamic balance, build trust before load, and watch confidence spread to the rest of your life.
Connect with Dan and Total Balance Company at https://totalbalancecompany.com/
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be well, my friend
xx Hannah
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (01:11):
Hello, welcome back to the podcast.
So I had Dan on a bit ago, DanMedcalf, and I had such a fun
and meaningful conversation withyou, Dan, and we didn't even hit
half of what we wanted to talkabout.
So we decided just to record awhole nother episode on Total
(01:34):
Balance Company.
And I am super excited to talkto you about health and balance
and how we can continue to keepour neurons firing in our brain.
And it's something that I knowyou have a really great grasp
on, not only from a knowledgestandpoint and a research
(01:54):
standpoint, from but also frompersonal experience.
So I am very excited to have youon the podcast.
And thank you so much forjoining us again.
SPEAKER_00 (02:03):
Oh, it's my pleasure.
It was.
We had a great chat the firsttime.
And I'm I don't want to say moreexcited, but I'm as excited
because what we're going toaddress today is life-changing.
And when you talk about journeyto well, this is real.
This is not, you know, for somepeople, this is for everybody.
(02:27):
So I will say if you havebalance issues, and we're
talking about mobility balance,if you know somebody that has,
or you want to prevent what'slabeled as, well, it just
happens because we age, thispodcast is for you because not
only are we going to change yourthought process, we would change
the messaging into your brainthat's actionable.
(02:49):
And let's get started.
I'm excited about this one.
SPEAKER_01 (02:53):
You stole my first question, which was, who is this
podcast for?
Because when I think, and evenwhen I'm kind of looking at your
website of Total BalanceCompany, and I think balance, we
immediately my brain immediatelygoes to elderly and having
balance issues, or uh even maybedoing like some really tough
(03:15):
balance things when we're kids.
Like, I well, maybe not whenwe're kids, when we're an adult,
like closing your eyes andbalancing on one foot or trying
to like make yourself fall offbalance.
So, who specifically is thispodcast episode for and why is
it worth having thisconversation?
SPEAKER_00 (03:35):
Let me tell you how important balance is so people
understand, and then we'll saywho it's for.
They did a study of 1,300 womenin Europe that they followed for
20 years.
And these women were 60 years orolder.
Balance was the test, and theywanted to see how important is
(03:59):
balance for mobility so that youcan move and lose the fear.
How important is it for life?
This is what they discovered.
Tracking these people, this isdata.
This is not someone coming upwith some ideology to try and
sell a product.
It's nothing.
This is not what we're here for.
This is an education to say ageis never the reason.
(04:23):
Those women, over 1,300 womenthat they tracked, the ones that
had good balance, the top 30%that had good balance, lived
eight years longer.
This isn't eight years in ahospital bed on a drip taking
drugs.
This is eight quality years.
Now I don't know anything elsein the world that we could look
(04:46):
at on its own and say, just byhaving this, you will live eight
quality years longer.
That's memories.
That's around your family,that's new experiences, that's
making memories ahead of yourage.
And so this podcast is foreverybody that is aging,
(05:08):
everybody that has a partner, afamily member, a grandparent
that's aging, because we willdecline in our balance unless we
address it.
Now, I'll also add to that thesame system is used with Olympic
world record holders.
It's used with children with thegenesis of the corpus callosum.
(05:29):
It's used with athletes that aretrying to increase their balance
and mobility.
It's used with people that don'thave balance issues, but don't
want to lose their balancebecause that's how critical
movement is to life.
But this is where it gets evenmore beautiful.
I train an incredible group ofParkinson's, hundreds of
(05:49):
Parkinson's fighters, MS, strokesurvivors, TBIs, and anybody
that's suffering from aneurological disease that is
affecting their balance.
So when we turn around and say,Well, Dan, you've got to be more
specific, it can't do that foreverybody.
When you understand the systemthat I'm going to reveal now, it
(06:12):
goes against what we've beentaught, yet the results with
myself training over 70,000people, this is groundbreaking.
We've got doctors jumping on it,we have physical therapists
incorporating it.
We have people that are sayingthis is a must-have if you want
to retain your balance andreverse the effects of aging
(06:33):
when it comes to movement.
SPEAKER_01 (06:35):
One thing that kept coming up to me today as I was
preparing for this podcast wasone thing that I have noticed
entering into my third decade oflife is I'm less interested in
quick fixes and more interestedin long-term foundational
(07:02):
changes and things that I canimplement into my life.
And one thing that you said thatreally sparked that reminder was
having those good years, havingthose healthy years, not just
living longer, but actuallyhaving a solid quality of life,
which that is something that Ithink about, I think now that
(07:26):
I'm in my 30s, is like I want tonot just survive to 80, 90 years
old, whatever it is.
I want to really thrive and whatcan I do to address that.
And it seems like thisconversation is going to address
that.
So I'm very curious to hear howbalance can affect our quality
(07:49):
of life.
And I love that it's veryapplicable to so many age
ranges.
Um, especially, of course, youknow, my audience is a little
bit, tends to be a little bityounger.
Um, so and athletes and how wecan apply this to athletes as
well as, I mean, we all haveparents, we all have aunts,
uncles, we all have people thatare in our lives that are older.
(08:12):
And that's really important tome as well, is to make sure that
my parents are having healthylives and my aunts and my uncles
and my sister are having reallyquality years in their life on
this beautiful earth.
So, um, where would you like tostart?
I don't even know where tostart, Dan.
Where would you like to start?
SPEAKER_00 (08:32):
I love your honesty, and and you talk about being in
your third decade of life, andit makes uh it sounds like it's
an old thing.
You look so young.
And I'm like, I remember thatlong ago.
So let's go to here.
I'm gonna give everybodylistening today an education to
be able to explain itthemselves.
(08:53):
I'm not here to tell you what tothink.
I'm gonna let you understandthis is scientific, it's
factual, it's researched, it'sproven, and the results have
been phenomenal.
We are changing the way thatpeople now perceive aging and
balance of mobility.
So let me go back a little bitto how this even came about.
(09:15):
There was a gentleman by thename of Bob Eubanks.
Bob Eubanks was the, I think hewas on the newlywed game for 50
years, TV celebrity, RoseParade, hosted that, I think,
for 38 years.
The guy was brilliant.
He was 79 years old, a businesspartner with me, and started
falling.
Well, I owned a sportsperformance training center in
(09:37):
here in Los Angeles.
It was all about movement forathletic performance.
So when I saw him falling andnot having that control of the
body, I said, let me train you.
So I did what any great traineris going to do.
We're going to strengthen yourlegs, strengthen your hip
flexors, strengthen your core,you're going to balance better,
you're going to walk better,you're going to have that
confidence again.
Within two minutes of traininghim, I knew I was 100% wrong.
(10:01):
And this was where Bob opened mylife up to help people by going
back to the facts and not asupposition.
When I tried to get Bob to movethrough these athlete ladders
that I use with, you know,Olympians and professional
athletes, he couldn't go throughit.
He couldn't lift his feet offthe ground.
And I said, okay, let's go putyour hands on the wall.
(10:22):
You put your hands on the wall,we'll lift the legs, let's work
the hip flexors.
As soon as his hands were on thewall, his legs could fire like
pistons up and down.
But as soon as he let go of thewall, he couldn't move his body
properly.
So I had to look at it and say,the problem is not the body,
what's going on?
So I started looking at thebrain-to-body connection.
(10:43):
Because when Bob felt confident,he was free to move.
As soon as he didn't feelconfident, it shut down.
So I started going back andsaying, How do babies learn to
walk?
How do we have it, thebrain-body connection, and how
does it truly work?
And that's where in three weeks,at the age of 79, Bob Eubanks
(11:06):
went from the senior shuffle,hunched over, fearful to wake up
each day not knowing what wasahead, to running six miles an
hour on a treadmill, in onlythree weeks running up and down
stairs, back playing golf, backwalking with his wife and dog
round the um, you know, in themorning round the block, and
doing everything.
But the greatest change was hewoke up excited for his years
(11:30):
ahead.
He suddenly lost the fear.
So feel free to stop me at anypoint and question, because once
I start going on on this, it'sexciting.
This is this is education.
SPEAKER_02 (11:41):
I can feel it.
SPEAKER_00 (11:42):
So I created this balanced training system which
was brain to body.
And I'm gonna say somethingright now because I want to get
this out the way early.
Have you ever heard of musclememory?
Yeah.
And I was a head coach on theOlympic program.
I've trained so manyprofessional athletes and youth
to pro and college.
(12:03):
So, of course, I preached musclememory.
SPEAKER_01 (12:06):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (12:07):
Until we went through this and realized there
is no such thing as musclememory.
Now people go, oh, I did thesame thing.
When I first heard there's nosuch thing because I'm
researching and researching withneuroscientists.
Of course, there's musclememory.
That's how we get stronger inthe gym, that's how we get
better at moving.
If you took a muscle out ofsomeone's body and laid it on a
(12:31):
slab, it's not gonna move,right?
It's no longer functioning.
But if you took electrodes andfed electricity in from one end
to the other, the muscle, eventhough it's out the body, will
still jump.
We've seen it, we know it.
So it got me thinking (12:48):
if that happens, how can it be that we
have muscle memory, yet themuscle can't move on its own,
which means it can't have itsown memory.
So, with more research, Istarted looking.
A muscle moves because of anelectrical impulse that's fed to
it.
So our frontal cortex goes, hmm,I want to move.
(13:09):
We then send the message todifferent areas in the brain,
but the cerebellum that thensays I want to move, it fires
the neurons to the motor cortexthat sends the message to the
muscle, and the muscle moves.
So, how does it move?
It moves because it has anelectrical impulse from the
neurons.
(13:30):
So we don't have muscle memory,we have neuron memory.
Muscle repetition would give usstrength, the ability to do the
same thing again and again,stamina and endurance.
But anytime someone begins tolose their balance or mobility,
it's because there's adisconnect from the brain to the
body to send that neuron memoryto the muscle and activate.
(13:55):
And that will lessen justbecause we're not moving.
It's like I call it frayedwiring.
So I created this system thatreconnects the brain to the
body, messaging out to theproprioception.
That's how we feel what'shappening.
But so importantly, the sensorymessaging going back from our
(14:15):
feet or whatever body part we'retouching the walls to our brain
so quickly that the brain thenfigures out what's happening
before we're even conscious ofit.
And this has happened our wholelife until we begin to lose our
balance or feel that we'relosing our balance because of a
neurological decline.
SPEAKER_01 (14:38):
And can you dive a little bit into the fear aspect
of this whole conversation?
Because you brought up a goodpoint with Bob of you know,
being afraid of falling.
And I know that that certainlycomes up with athletes as well,
having a fear of re-injury.
(15:00):
That is very real in my life.
I've shared very openly about myback stuff, my lower back stuff,
and having a lot of fear aroundre-entering the gym and then
possibly re-injuring.
So, does that have anything todo with neuron firing?
Or obviously there's a mentalcomponent, but yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (15:21):
Okay, so I can go into you're asking all the right
questions to keep me excitedbecause this is what I spent a
long time researching and thenfiguring out what I created
includes all this stuff thatpeople are telling.
When we look at fear, fear isgoverned by brain reaction.
(15:43):
So we we feel that fear, andwe've heard about the freeze or
fight or flight or fawn, right?
There's all these differentthings that we go to.
When we've had an injury orwe've had an accident, and this
was discovered back at BristolUniversity back in England about
10 years ago, there's a part ofthe cerebellum, which is our
(16:06):
movement center, control centerthat attaches to other parts of
the brain, that there's a pieceof it called the pyramids.
It's towards the center of thecerebellum.
The pyramid is a memory onmovement.
So if I said to you, Hannah,walk to the edge of the curb,
the sidewalk, as fast as youcan, stop, look and see if
(16:27):
there's cars coming, and thenkeep crossing.
You'd do that with confidence.
There's no danger, it's maybe afive-inch drop.
I feel good.
But if I said to you, Hannah,walk at the same speed to the
edge of a 200-foot cliff drop,you wouldn't walk at the same
speed, even though the point ofstopping is exactly the same.
(16:47):
It's the edge.
The perception of danger causesthe brain to say, slow down.
And the brain won't react asquickly when there's fear
involved, because it's eithergoing to make you move slower,
or when something happens, thebrain goes, okay, we need to
figure it out.
We've got to go down, and bythat time you've fallen.
(17:09):
So when you have the pyramidsthat's will then send the
messages to the pack, PAG, thatgoes in and says, This is
danger.
We will not function and move atthe full speed because the brain
is only created to keep usalive.
That's its purpose.
Keep us safe so we can stayalive.
Our mindset changes how thebrain's going to operate, not
(17:32):
the brain itself, because thebrain would love for you to sit
down and do nothing all daybecause it knows that you're
going to be safe.
Now, the way to remove fear isto address it in a way that the
brain now trusts the journeyahead.
Let me say that again.
We have to remove the fear sothe brain will give the freedom
(17:56):
to allow us to have the fullmovement or fear, fearlessness.
Is that even a word?
For the journey ahead.
And so until we understand whywe're being slowed down, and
most of us aren't even cognitiveof the fear that we have, like
how it's affecting us, we haveto change the brain's function
(18:18):
and then the body will flow.
SPEAKER_01 (18:23):
This is so interesting to me.
So then, of course, the nextquestion is how do we begin to
change that fear response into afearlessness response?
Yeah, that's the question.
SPEAKER_00 (18:44):
So it's actually much easier than we uh would
believe, but we have to bewilling to go through the steps.
So let me explain it this wayyour back injury, and you've
tried so many things to removethe pain and the fear of more
pain or limitations.
And I've seen the pictures andvideos of you out on the
(19:06):
retreat, you're moving great.
But in the back of your mind,there's still that fear that
goes on.
We have to put ourselves in asafe space of trust for the
brain to let go.
So we've got to start takingsmall steps to test how far we
can go and trust the body thatit can handle the small steps.
(19:31):
And when we begin to feel a veryslight tweak, we stop because
we're protecting.
We don't have that, you know, nopain, no gain is when you're
healthy, not when you'reinjured.
No pain, no gain is not whenyou're living in fear.
What we need to do is create themovements that challenges the
body to strengthen withoutcausing more injury.
(19:54):
Because once we do it again anddo it again and do it again, we
will stop doing it because wedon't trust what will happen.
So, for example, your backinjury.
You say, Okay, I want tostrengthen my lower back.
What exercises would be good tostart feeling?
So it may just be something likelaying face down on your bed and
just lifting your shoulders offof the bed.
And you feel the muscles, thespinal erectus going up the
(20:17):
spine, and go, you know what,that feels okay.
If I feel a twinge, we'll stop,we'll go backwards, we'll find
it, may just be leaning forwardagainst the chair and standing
up until I can begin to feel theactivation of the muscles
without the engagement of eitherfor people that may have you
know bulging discs or somethinglike that.
(20:37):
What can I do that doesn'tcreate and the brain goes, I'm
okay at this point.
Now we've done more and provento ourselves that that much is
okay.
Then you wait a day, see ifthere's a secondary reaction off
of the movement.
Second day is good, I'll try itagain.
It's good.
I don't need to take a third dayoff.
(20:57):
I'm now gonna turn around andgo, I'm gonna try a new
movement.
Oh, there's no pain when I'mdoing that.
Okay, let's do this repetitivelyfor 20 times, 30 times.
Then you begin to feel a littlebit of a twinge.
Okay, I did 30, it was too much.
I'll take a day off, I'll comeback and do 20.
I know 20 is the safe number.
Then I'll try 21.
(21:18):
And what happens, the braingoes, hang on a minute, I can do
this.
And the area that's moving orbeing challenged, then turns
around and goes, I'm gettingstronger because I'm moving
instead of avoiding.
And I will say on my balancetraining system, I've had
numerous people with scoliosisthat couldn't work out, been to
(21:39):
chiropractor, tried physicaltherapy, tried gym workouts with
trainers, and have given up.
But when we put them on theboard and I teach how to lift
off of your spine, not only werethey becoming pain-free, their
scoliosis began to straightenup.
It began to go back to normalbecause when you're trying to
(22:00):
balance, when you're trying tomove, the brain isn't thinking,
where's my spine?
The brain's thinking, how do Ifind my balance?
So it was naturally getting thespine to realign because we had
to be realigned to balance.
The brain was bypassing thespine, and yet it was adapting
the spine because the pressurepoints in our feet were
(22:23):
revealing the balance or thelack of balance, and how do I
correct it?
So it's fascinating.
If I go into balance and explainit, because this one I can go
into perfectly.
That's actually a littlearrogant to say I can go into it
perfectly, perfectionist inopinion.
But you know when you saysomething and then you turn
around and go, hang on a minute,did I just say that?
(22:44):
But that's the confidence.
SPEAKER_01 (22:45):
Yeah, retract that.
SPEAKER_00 (22:47):
No, I'm gonna say it because I believe it'll be
great.
But I've trained so many people,I've seen the results.
Someone that's fearful offalling isn't gonna want to step
on a balance board.
And the balance board I have isvery gentle, but when you're
scared of the ground, you're notgonna get on a balance board.
SPEAKER_03 (23:05):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (23:05):
So what I did, and this was from working with Bob
and creating this system neverto sell.
This was only created to helpBob off of the education I was
learning and the practice andtraining that we were doing.
I put handles in the poles andpoles in the board so that when
you get on the board, you canhold on with your arms.
Now, this is really important.
(23:26):
Well, why wouldn't you hold achair?
The chair doesn't rock with you,the chair becomes your
grounding.
So when you hold on to thechair, that's what's grounding
you that you can lean on.
It's not your feet.
But when you stand on a balanceboard that's completely safe,
it's gonna support you.
And people are always scaredgetting on it.
Within two minutes, threeminutes, they're like, Oh,
(23:47):
they're playing on it.
They go, I was scared of theground, now I'm playing on a
board because we put the handlesin.
Now the handles are the criticalpiece.
If you didn't have thosehandles, the brain would go,
hang on a minute, I'm introuble.
I want to get off of this board.
It would try and get you free.
You're gonna live in that fearmoment and getting on, you live
in the fear moment.
But as soon as you hold thehandles and feel the gentle
(24:10):
rock, the brain goes, I'm safe.
And once you're safe, the braingoes, Okay, now we can play.
Now I'm not gonna slow down outof fear the movement, and you'll
find people incredibly quicklystart doing things that they
wouldn't even do on the hardground, let alone on a board.
(24:31):
And I have over 300 exercises onthe board to challenge going
back to how does a baby learn towalk?
If we've done it before, we cando it again as long as the brain
is functioning because we haveneuron memory.
And then I challenge every partof your body from your core
through your hips, through yourquads, your hamstrings, your
(24:53):
glutes, your knee joint to havethe muscles able to support all
the way down to the feet.
And when you can touch on everypart of the foot, the inside,
the outside, the toes, theheels, the brain goes, I am so
much better than I was led tobelieve.
Because the brain doesn't knowthe difference between reality
(25:13):
and fiction.
I'll say that again.
The brain doesn't know thedifference between reality and
fiction.
And people, of course they do.
Well, let me ask you this,Hannah.
Have you ever had a dream thatwas so real you woke up in the
morning in a different state?
SPEAKER_01 (25:31):
Yes, I don't like those.
SPEAKER_00 (25:34):
Okay, and have you ever had those where your body
temperatures are up, or you'resweating, or you're feeling um a
fear or an excitement?
You think you're going onvacation and you have to look
around and you have to tellyourself, hang on a minute, it
was a dream.
SPEAKER_01 (25:51):
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (25:54):
Everyone listening has experienced that.
How did our body react as if itwas real, if the brain knew that
it was just a dream?
And we had to bring ourselvesback to reality by saying it was
a dream, we may still feel it,and then we think, and then we
bring ourselves back down to astate of reality.
(26:15):
Well, it's the same when you'reworking on a fear-based um
restriction.
Whether it's your back, whetherand again, it's gotta be smart.
It can't be, oh, it's not real.
No, what you went through isreal.
The pyramids is telling you inyour brain, this is real.
The amygdala is telling you thisis real until we get to the
(26:37):
point where we can prove to thebrain the fear was momentary and
it doesn't govern our future.
And that's where I turn aroundand say we've been misled over
years and years of it's justbecause of aging.
It's just well, you had anaccident, that's just the way it
is.
Your back will always be bad andwe can't fix it.
(26:59):
Or if you move, it's gonna getworse.
For those that didn't hear thefirst podcast, I was paralyzed.
They told me that I would bedisabled for life.
If I listened, I would still bedisabled today.
But I knew there was more to me.
I had a major brain injury whereI was knocked unconscious, part
(27:19):
of my brain died.
I had to learn to talk and learnto function, which was a gift.
It was incredible because itallowed me to go and study the
brain for my own health, andthat's where I was able to
create this brain-to-bodyreconnection.
Otherwise, I wouldn't be where Iam today.
I wouldn't be sitting heretalking with you and sharing
(27:40):
invaluable time with yourlisteners if I wasn't where I
was today.
Having gone through what I wentthrough, which was a gift.
So when we look at the brainpower, it's incredible what we
can achieve.
So when you put your mind to it,you can do anything.
We've heard that all the time.
And then we're told, but this isgoing to happen to you.
(28:04):
Well, if we really believe that,then putting our mind to it
doesn't mean it means we'regoverned by time, not governed
by mindset.
My dad went to the doctor nottoo long ago and he said, Uh,
doctor, my right leg's hurting.
You know, what's going on?
He goes, Well, Malcolm, you'rejust getting old.
And he says, Doctor, my leftleg's the same age.
(28:24):
How come that one's not hurting?
I love that answer.
SPEAKER_01 (28:31):
That's good.
SPEAKER_00 (28:32):
Because how come there's a 90-year-old running a
marathon and there's a65-year-old that can't stand up
and walk confidently?
unknown (28:42):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (28:47):
So it's again, we go ahead and ask any questions for
clarification because again,your audience in your age range
do have uncles, aunts,grandparents, parents that are
gonna go through this.
But this is what's beautiful.
Especially, we're reallyfocusing right now on mothers
(29:08):
that just gave birth or mothersthat are about to give birth.
We all know getting the bodyback is hard after birth.
What women go through isincredible, right?
What their body goes through.
We found by balanced trainingand isolation, which we do on
the board, we're able to get anincredible effect on abs,
(29:29):
thighs, and buns that they cando in 10 minutes a day while
their baby's sleeping.
They don't have to leave thehome.
And the effects results uh offthe charts because we're now
engaging the brain to controlthe muscle rather than just
going in and thoughtlesslyworking out.
And so we can get more dynamictension, more body sculpting,
(29:52):
more strength and shaping byengaging the brain in specific
exercises with resistance thanjust going out and moving
freely.
SPEAKER_01 (30:05):
I have I have a few things.
One thing that you wereexplaining there's the pole and
the handles and the in the boardand connecting that research
that you've done with babieslearning to walk.
You've probably already madethis connection and said this,
but for the listeners, it makesme think of when we're teaching
(30:27):
a baby to walk, we hold theirhands.
And I've spent a lot of timeswith a lot of times with babies,
even though I don't have anykids yet.
But um even just putting yourhand out without them grabbing
it, it gives them thatconfidence that they can do it.
And in the beginning, you'reholding their their little hand
and backing up so they can walkforward.
(30:49):
And that really reminded me ofthe board that you're talking
about and having that stabilitysignal to the brain that you are
safe, that you have something tohold on to, and then you're able
to do all of these exercises,whereas, you know, otherwise
when we're trying To do thingswithout having any stability, we
(31:13):
can feel balance balance things.
I mean, we can feel veryoff-kilt, or and I can even feel
that way too, or you know,closing your eyes and trying to
do these balance exercises.
It's so much harder because youdon't have that proprioception
and you don't have that sense ofsafety of the signals to your
brain.
So I wanted to just kind ofshare that little insight.
(31:34):
If you have kids or you've seenbabies, that sounds just so
similar to me, and I love that.
And I love anything, I actuallyfound a similar program that
talked about reconnecting to howdo babies strengthen their
muscles, how do babies learn tomove and going back to when we
were children and and using thatinnate knowledge because babies
(31:57):
just do it, right?
They're not told, like, hold myhand and you'll be able to walk.
They're just so they have all ofthis innate wisdom within their
body already.
And I love anything to do withthat, that wisdom and that
knowledge with babies.
Um, I'll let you respond to thatbefore I move on.
If you have anything, you don'thave to.
SPEAKER_00 (32:18):
Yeah, absolutely.
So if muscles were the reasonthat we can walk and you know
have balance and mobility, wewould take babies to the gym.
What's happening when they'retrying to stand up?
Look, when they first roll over,they're engaging that
proprioception of different bodyparts feeling the ground and the
(32:41):
brain is connecting to the body.
So when a baby's born, and andokay, let's go back into this
even more.
Sitting there, Hannah, andeveryone listening as an adult
has roughly 86 billion braincells.
When a baby is born, do you knowhow many brain cells a baby has
when they're born?
SPEAKER_01 (33:01):
More, I would assume, but no idea.
SPEAKER_00 (33:04):
About 86 billion brain cells.
So we don't have more thanbabies have.
We think because their head issmaller, that they would have
less.
What they don't have is thesynapse, the messaging of how
those brain cells, those neuronsare gonna basically wire.
We talk about hardwiring thebrain, how they're gonna think.
(33:25):
So that's why babies willrepeat, they'll see, they'll
follow, they'll see someonewalking, they're gonna try and
stand up and walk.
Because the brain is figuringout where do I need to go to
increase my quality of life ormy safety in life.
Now you can say, well, hang on,a baby doesn't feel safe because
if it falls over, wouldn't thebrain the brain isn't developed
(33:46):
yet.
But it's copying, repeating,hearing, responding, tasting,
smelling, all these are comingaround.
And when you talk about balancewith your eyes closed, the eyes
bring a spatial awareness thatworks with the vestibular
system, which your eyes, yourears, all the other areas.
But when you remove them, itdoesn't mean you say you should
(34:08):
be less balanced.
It means that you're going tofocus more on the sensory and
the cerebellum.
And so you're 100% right lookingat how babies learn to walk and
or how they learn to stand.
It's trial and error, trial anderror.
But once we hardwire the brainto feel it, we don't have to go
back and do it again until webegin to lose it.
(34:30):
And losing it comes from notexercising, not moving.
So if you think back to yourlife and everyone listening, we
were probably most activephysically between the ages of
11 and 20.
Between zero and 10, we werelearning, we're getting up,
we're exploring, but we weren'tconstantly in motion.
(34:51):
Then we go to school, middleschool, high school, and
college, and we're active.
We're either walking to classesor we're part of sports or we're
continuing the dance classes wehad until we run out of the of
the passion.
Between 20 and 30 is the firsttime we begin to decline the
amount of movement we've done.
(35:11):
Because now we're behind desk alittle bit more, we're studying
a little bit more, we find a jobthat we're not staying as active
in.
And of course, there's always,I'm talking generally.
SPEAKER_02 (35:23):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (35:23):
We we maybe we're standing behind a counter
serving, we may be a waitress ora waiter or something, but we're
not engaging in multi-differentdirectional movement.
SPEAKER_03 (35:34):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (35:34):
And so what happens is the brain goes, I'm not now
engaged in jumping side to side.
And so I'm not going to havethat response to balance
compared to when I was flyingeverywhere.
Then between 30 and 40, we beginto take a major drop normally
between 20 and 30.
But I believe we have a 10-yearpayoff.
(35:54):
So if we've moved a lot between11 and 20, we'll have a really
good time between 21 and 30because we've held on to that
memory and we're still young andwe're still active and we're
still developing.
The brain stops growth reallyaround 26, 27, is when we begin
get more set.
So then, if we didn't move muchbetween 20 and 30, we're going
(36:18):
to struggle from 30 to 40, andyou see it, the less active
people, by the time they hit 35,they're not moving like they
used to, but they're only 35.
So if you then don't movebetween much 20 and 30, and 30
to 40, you're decline.
By the time you get 40 and 50,you're on a downward slope.
And you'll see we tend to beaging.
(36:39):
We got two extremes.
Those that are super fit.
And I will say, back in theprobably 80s, 90s, with the
whole aerobics movement, peoplewere actually fitter longer.
Now we spend more time onscreen, sitting down, driving,
not exercising.
And what we're doing is we'regetting the brain to think
linear.
We tend to walk one path.
(37:01):
We get up, we do the same thingevery day.
We walk forward, we sit down.
We don't jump side to side,we're not twisting and turning
and dancing as much as we were.
So the brain is shrinking in itsability to feel and react
quickly because we're not usingit.
In the old adage, if we don'tuse it, we lose it.
(37:21):
And so because we're not asactive, we will age faster, not
in looks, not in skin and allthe other stuff because we've
got so much knowledge, becausetruthfully, it makes money.
So we're going to keepdeveloping it and we're going to
push it, and people will be ableto look more healthy, but they
won't move more healthy.
(37:41):
And we know movement is criticalto brain function, muscle
strengthening, osteoporosis, allthe things that begin to help
the aging process speed up, andyet at the base of it all is
movement.
I don't know if that answeredyour question because I love
going off on these processesthat flow, but it's
(38:02):
understanding take care ofyourself today.
Invest in your future today,because most people won't, and
there's three three basic umprogressions.
One, I'm doing great.
I don't have a balance issue, Idon't have a mobility issue, and
you don't even think about it.
You're walking down the streeton a cell phone, looking in a
(38:23):
shop window, going, I like thatpurse.
While you're talking to someone,while an ambulance is going by
with a siren, somebody's arguingwith their spouse and a dog's
chasing a cat.
We never think of our balance.
SPEAKER_03 (38:34):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (38:34):
And then suddenly we wake up one day and go, oh, I
feel a little off balance.
Oh, it will correct itself.
We don't pay attention to thewarning signs.
That's really the first step.
There's a warning sign.
And we ignore it, but basicallythe brain's saying, I need to
move more.
Take action.
The second step is now I've gota problem.
(38:55):
I'm fearful, I don't know whereto go.
I'll go to a physical therapist,and there's great physical
therapists out there, and youknow, occupational therapy and
all this stuff that I wentthrough for my paralysis to come
back.
However, they'll train yourbody, they don't train your
brain.
And that's where thedisconnect's happening.
(39:17):
So you go there, you get bored,you don't feel like you're
getting better.
And so you kind of like justresign, I'm just getting older.
And then the next step, which isthe most critical, you've tried
things, it's not working, or youhaven't tried anything, and now
you know you need to, but you'vegone past the point of no
return.
(39:38):
I personally don't agree withthat.
If you can stand up, or if yourmuscles work, I've taken people
that are 90-year-olds in inwheelchairs that haven't walked
in five years and they're backwalking unaided.
People a hundred years oldgetting up out of chairs and
moving again.
But we now get to the pointwhere we resign ourselves to the
end, the decline.
(39:58):
I can't get better.
And that is a mindset falsehoodthat's been fed to us by
society.
And the testing that we have forbrain body connection, the
testing that we have forbalance, full risk, in my
opinion, is insufficient to whatit should be.
And I'll explain this to you andthen any other questions, jump
(40:21):
in.
When we balance on one foot,that becomes static balance.
We have dynamic balance and wehave static balance.
Dynamic balance is balancedwhile you're moving.
Static balance is can I standbalanced without moving?
When we do static balance, forexample, stand on one leg, hold
(40:43):
it for 10 seconds, okay, you'renot a full risk.
We're only using three parts ofthe brain.
You have the cerebellum, well,first of all, it's the frontal
lobe, prefrontal cortex, that'sgoing, don't move.
So it sends a message to thecerebellum going, don't move,
which then sends a message tothe corpus callosum, which is
the area that combines the leftand right hemisphere of our
(41:04):
brain and says, don't move.
So we're training ourselves notto move, and we're only engaging
those three parts because if allthree activate, we will stand
there.
But if you turn around and go,instead of standing on one leg,
move as if you're a tree.
Stand on one leg and move thatleg like we used to as kids.
(41:24):
We're a tree in the wind andwe're waving our arms everywhere
and going.
Now over 18 parts of the brainbegin to wake up and go, okay,
I'm there's a danger.
I'm a little bit off.
It's not dangerous.
I can sort this out because Idon't have a fear of falling.
So now you're doing it, and thenif you're going off, you put
(41:45):
your foot down, go, can I do itmore?
Can I last longer?
We're playing and the brain'sengaged in the play.
But what we're really doing iswe're engaging every part of our
body to regain balance.
And if anybody's been on atightrope walk and you're on the
trying to balance and you'removing your arms and you're
doing and the rope's goingunderneath your feet, we're
(42:05):
we're enjoying it, the brain isso engaged, and that creates
neuroplasticity.
This is what's fascinating.
The brain can only improve orgrow or have neurogenesis going
on when it's challenged, butneuroplasticity itself is
(42:27):
created from errors.
The brain will not createneuroplasticity unless it's
making errors.
Very easy to explain.
Because the brain is made tokeep us alive and safe.
When we make a mistake, thebrain goes, I need okay, what do
I need to learn?
Well, there's something that'sgoing on, I need to, and it
(42:47):
begins to open up differentareas of the brain.
If it's I'm taking a test, I gotit wrong, it will open up a part
of your brain, maybe thehippocampus that has your memory
in, or we're going to give newinformation, and other parts
that are going to be activatedif you're reading the occipital
lobe and different areas.
But when we're balance issues,when we train our balance, the
(43:11):
brain is trying to figure outwhat is the solution.
And every single part of thebrain will now wake up in case
it's the solution and proven.
I've done the testing, we'vedone brain scans going on while
people are on my balancetraining system.
Within about 10 minutes of thestart of the program, you see it
(43:33):
begin to rise, theneuroplasticity begins to rise,
the involvement of differentparts of the brain grows.
By the time you get to 10minutes, your brain is fully
alive in all areas.
We'll then continue for aboutanother 20 minutes, do a
30-minute workout, and after 30minutes, you can get off that
(43:54):
board, continue the everydayactivities, and that same
neuroplasticity will stay aroundat that level for at least 40
minutes after.
So it's incredible.
If you do balance trainingbefore you go into class to
learn, if you go in and do somebalance training before you take
a test, if you do balancetraining before you do a
(44:16):
presentation, your brain wakesup and will find the memories of
the past because it's trying tofigure out where's the solution.
And absolutely unbelievable howbecause the brain is making
errors, trying to figure out howto balance, we create the most
neuroplasticity.
And this comes from AndrewHuberman.
(44:37):
I don't know if you've everheard of Andrew Huberman, the
neuroscientist.
Go look at what he talks about,the brain making errors.
I'm looking to go and meet himvery soon and take the board up
and so he can see it.
Because he said that you knowthere's nothing out there that
does the complete system thathe's found yet.
We have it.
(44:58):
And we've done the testing toprove it.
And I'm so excited.
And this is maybe a thing beforewe transition out of here,
Hannah.
And I'm again I'm talking somuch because I get so excited
because it changes lives, itbrings life back to people.
Talk about journey to well.
When you're in decline,increasing your movement,
(45:18):
getting out in the sun, wantingto hydrate because you've got an
adventure ahead, all thesethings that we talk about get
fed by the ability to move andthe desire now to trust that you
can go and do it.
But when someone's been on theboard and they've worked out for
maybe five minutes, ten minutes,and I tell them step back on the
(45:38):
ground, they go, Oh my God, theground feels so safe.
I'm like, hang on a minute.
Five minutes ago, you werefearful of that ground.
They go, No, I so they suddenlyhave that proprioception, the
spatial awareness, theconfidence that if I can do that
on the board, the ground, I'mback in control.
(46:02):
And it's just the mind shiftchange where we change the
brain's reality of falseness, ofI can't do this to belief.
And the brain goes, Oh, I'mgood.
And then we start the journey tothe best years ahead.
SPEAKER_01 (46:20):
I love how everything is so connected
because one of the things that Ialways share is going through
the difficult moments kind ofgives us that perspective of how
beautiful the mundane momentswere in our lives.
And I always use this reallysilly, simple example of when I
(46:41):
moved to the city and I didn'thave a parking spot, and I had
to loop around the block 20times to find a parking spot,
and I got so many parkingtickets until I finally paid for
a parking spot, spent$200 amonth just to park.
And now there's not a day goesby that I'm not backing into my
driveway or backing into aparking spot at dinner where I
(47:05):
am not thankful for that parkingspot.
And you're just giving me thisbeautiful, kind of holistic,
full perspective on a body levelof the same thing.
When we do something that ischallenging or we put our bodies
through something that'schallenging them, that what we
kind of think about what we haveto do all the time, walking on
(47:29):
regular ground, that we eitherare afraid of or not, because
we've talked about it's reallybeneficial to both.
Um that then we have thatnewfound appreciation of just
walking on the ground and havingthat.
I love that.
That warmed my heart when yousaid that, of having that
feeling of stability, like thatthe ground feels so safe, safe
(47:51):
because I can't imagine whatthat feels like.
I can imagine in many other waysagain with my back, but what
that feels like of walking onthe ground and feeling unsafe to
walk on the ground.
And you are gifting these peoplethis beautiful, uh, this
beautiful gift of feeling safeand feeling stable, which just
(48:11):
makes me want to tear up.
I am so curious.
You said this probably 20minutes ago, but I have to loop
back to your feet.
Like I need to know, I get thedynamic movement piece, but you
said something about using allareas of your feet, and I
understand that, right?
(48:32):
So when we're doing these, I canlogically understand when we're
doing these things, we have touse all areas of our feet.
Can you talk about that though?
SPEAKER_00 (48:41):
Yes, so again, I was very fortunate to go from you
know professional soccer clubsback in England, having trained
with the Royal Marine cadets foreight years, thinking I'm gonna
go into the special forces, andI'm suddenly a dancer.
It's a it's a fun story whereyou know the aerobics teacher
(49:04):
that I was studying with becauseI had to get more supple because
I'd never really stretched, andI want to go mountain climbing
with the special forces andstuff.
She said you should become adancer.
I'm like, a dancer?
What do you mean a dancer?
I'm a man's man.
You know, in those days it wasvery effeminate to be a dancer.
So she dared me and I thoughtI'll go and I'll have an
experience, I'll go laugh, go todance audition.
When I go up to lose, I'll be inthe Marines in two weeks' time.
(49:26):
They offered me a fullscholarship to start in two
weeks' time.
And I was like, this isincredible.
So had to go back and tell mydad, I'm not going to go into
the military.
He came from a militarybackground, and I'm going to
become a dancer.
And that was that was a prettytough thing because I always
knew if it didn't work out, Icould go to the Marines a year
later.
I was super fit and strong.
And the reality is, I think Igot accepted because I was very
(49:48):
masculine rather than the fact Iwas a great dancer.
But I worked really hard.
Next thing I know, I'm in balletclass, jazz, tap, modern, you
know, national dances, all thesedifferent things before I found
out I could, you know, sing andact, and then ended up going on
to play the lead in Andrew LloydWebber shows.
If I hadn't have gone throughthat, and this is why I say
(50:10):
everything that happens to us isa gift if we wrap it correctly.
I didn't know that I would needall that knowledge that I
learned many years ago to nowhelp people recover.
Proprioception comes in threeforms.
It's either muscles, joints, orskin.
(50:32):
And if I explain it to anybodythat doesn't understand
proprioception, if there's a hotcup and you reach out and you
grab it, you will let go beforeyou're consciously aware of the
burn itself.
The burn comes second.
That's proprioception, themessaging from your skin to your
brain going, danger, the redalarm goes off.
(50:52):
We let go, and we're not evenconscious we've let go.
We drop it on the ground, thenwe're like, oh, I made a mess.
I wish I could have put it back.
No.
Or you wake up in the morning,you've got a bad back, and you
roll it, you go, Oh, so youhaven't even hardly moved yet,
but it's sending a message tothe brain saying there's an
issue here.
Or we have it where we have theum muscles where you've worked
(51:15):
out really hard the day beforeand you wake up and go, oh, I'm
so sore.
This is a form ofproprioception, it's messaging
of what's happening in the bodyback to the brain.
And then the brain will adjustor it will send a message to us
and go, Oh, I can't move, Ican't stretch like that today
because it's too painful ordanger.
The feet are obviously thecenter of our balance and
(51:37):
mobility for movement itself.
And so it's critical that withinthe pressure points on our feet,
every pressure point is aproprioception receptor that
then has to send the messageback to our brain so quickly
that we don't think about thebody has already made the
adjustment or the brain hasalready made the adjustment for
(51:58):
balance.
If we walk straight, and you'dall feel this, we only feel the
middle of our foot.
But as soon as we step on a rockand the and the foot goes
slightly to the side, or there'sa wobble in the sidewalk or the
paving stone, suddenly theoutside becomes aware, or we're
aware.
Oh, on the outside the foot, orwe're beginning to trip, we now
(52:20):
feel different parts of the feetreacting.
Now, this is why I love foottraining.
You can't send a message fromthe brain to the feet without
passing through every other partof your body.
Now, we'll say you don't have tosend it to your hands, but if I
want to send it to my feet, it'sgoing to go down through the
(52:41):
motor cortex, down through ourneck, down through our spine.
It's messaging all the waythrough our hips, down our legs,
knees, you know, obviouslycalves, ankles to the different
parts of the feet, and the toesare the furthest extremity,
which is why you'll find a lotof seniors will fall when they
begin to turn direction becausewe no longer have that
proprioception in the littletoe, or they'll begin to lean
(53:04):
and the messaging is slowed downbecause we're not using it.
The board that I personally use,and look, it's not about my
board.
This wasn't created to sell.
This was created to give peoplethe best option and opportunity
to get the best results as quickas they can.
If you're moving and you'redoing great, keep moving.
(53:25):
You don't have to have anythingextra, just don't stop what
you're doing because as you slowdown, that would disappear as
well.
But when you train your feet,the speed of messaging will keep
you safe.
Balance training, and this is acritical point, balance training
is not how far can I go and thencome back.
If you want that, use a bosuball because that's extreme.
(53:47):
I've seen athletes twist theirankle on a bosu ball because
it's hard to get on and get offthe board, and it's limited to
foot, you know, you're eithertwo feet even or one foot
center.
On our board, we can havemultiple, we've got so many
different foot positions toreplicate real life and the
strength we need and theresponsiveness.
(54:09):
But if you can get to the pointwhere you can train those feet
to be strong, go up on yourtoes.
Um, I actually have a red ballas well involved, uh a soft ball
involved on the board, that'sactually for foot mobility, foot
suppleness, suppleness iscritical, making sure that each
toe is working independently andhas strength as well.
(54:33):
You'll you'll see they'll talkabout people that you know lose
their toes or lost some toes andthey've lost their balance
because they're used to engagingit.
Well, now we have to train thatfoot to react on the main part
of the foot if the toes aregone, and we can do that if we
do the right training.
And I go through this, just cameto me.
I got this testimonial camethrough that shocked me.
(54:56):
Because I when I created this,it was just for Bob and people
that are losing their balance.
I didn't know how dynamic itwould be for anyone with a brain
and a goal.
If I want to move bad, I can go.
But I received this testimonialthrough, never ever paid for a
testimonial because if it's nottrue, why say it?
And if you have to pay, youdon't know if it's true.
(55:17):
This gentleman goes, Thank youso much, Dan, for creating this
balanced training system.
I'm a teacher, a physical edteacher at a blind school.
I'm it's mandatory for all ourstudents to get on the boards at
least once a day, and we'venoticed everyone's moving better
since getting on it.
unknown (55:38):
Wow.
SPEAKER_00 (55:39):
Now, who would have thought that when you're blind,
because people say, well,balance comes from your eyes?
Well, if that was the case, howdo blind people walk so well and
in more control often than weare?
And they go, Well, it comes fromthe vestibular system, it's all
through the years.
Well, if that was the case, howcould deaf people walk so well?
(56:00):
It's one big system, but whenyou lose a part, you can replace
it because your body is amiracle, your body is
incredible.
And if you want to become abetter athlete, if you want to
become a better dancer, primaballerina, if you want to go out
and have more fun, if you wantto adventure, if you want to
take part in triathlons oranything you want to do,
(56:23):
adventure races, take care ofyour brain-to-body connection as
the foundation of all movement,and the world will become what
everything you want it to be foryour athletic and health and
wellness.
SPEAKER_01 (56:40):
What a fun conversation, Dan.
I love chatting with you and Ilove your education that you
have provided us today.
You know that I love learningthe science behind things.
It's not just do this thing or Iread about this one time.
Clearly, you're very, verypassionate about this, and I can
(57:05):
see why, and it makes me lightup as well.
Um, where can people stayconnected with you?
I will also use this.
We should have said this in thebeginning.
If you haven't already listenedto our other podcast with Dan,
um scroll down a little bit onmy podcast because that podcast
(57:27):
was absolutely incredible aswell and completely different.
We didn't even talk about TotalBalance Company at all, I don't
think.
Um, so go listen to thatpodcast.
But otherwise, how can peoplestay connected with you?
SPEAKER_00 (57:40):
Thank you.
Well, can I finish with onestory?
SPEAKER_01 (57:43):
Please.
SPEAKER_00 (57:46):
My mom's a doctor.
She was 79 years old and had hada stroke.
I didn't know.
I live in Los Angeles, she livesback in England.
Mothers don't tell their kidswhen they're not doing well,
it's just that protection youdon't want you to worry.
So I went back for my mother's80th birthday, and I walk in.
She takes me and my brother andsisters into a room and she
(58:07):
says, You know, Dan, everyone, Ihad a stroke a year ago.
I said, Mom, you're doing great.
I hadn't seen her in four years,so I knew that she was moving a
little slower.
She had a little tightness inher face, but not bad.
And I just put it down to aging.
That was my irresponsibility.
I said, Mom, I would never haveknown you're doing great.
(58:28):
I can see.
She goes, No, I said, Well, it'sthe hardest thing.
What do you miss?
Well, she grew up in World WarII.
She wanted to be a dancer.
My sister became a professionalballet dancer.
I was a dancer and went on to,you know, theater, musical
theatre and stuff.
But she always wanted to dance.
She had two regrets in life.
One, that she had never done aballet class, and two, she had
(58:49):
never ever ridden a bike.
She was kind of like theCinderella of the family looking
after everybody.
And um, she had a brother whohad cerebral palsy, and you
know, she dedicated her life,and that's why she's still a
doctor.
She's still, at her beautifulage, still working five, six
days a week helping people as adoctor.
So I said, What's the hardestthing?
(59:10):
She goes, Down, I can no longerline dance.
She goes, That's my only relieffrom the stress.
She works with a lot of suicidepotential victims, and she's
taking on a lot of weight.
I used to love line dancing.
I said, When did you last go?
She goes, It's been a year sinceI've gone.
I tried to go back, but my bodywon't move quick enough to get
out the way or to be in linewith everyone.
So either they're a riskknocking me over, and remember,
(59:33):
she was 80 years old now, or shecould injure them if they
tripped over her.
I came back to America, hadn'teven released this as a product.
This was never made to sell,like I said.
This was purely made to help BobEubanks.
And then Mark de Cuscos, ifanybody knows Mark, he played
the lead in John Wick 3.
He's on uh the iron uh chef,he's the guy that goes a la
(59:56):
cuisine, he's on Hawaii.
He saw what happened and askedhim to help his mother-in-law
who had scoliosis and you knowhadn't walked in a year and was
back within two weeks walkingfour miles twice a week with her
friends again.
So anyway, I came back, madeanother board out of wood, sent
it to my mother.
Five days later, she went backto line dancing.
(01:00:18):
Here was this lady who had givenme life, and now she had lost
her freedom in life to do whatshe loved.
And in five days of using thesystem, she went back to line
dancing.
But this is where it getsbetter.
At 84, five years after herstroke, she came out to visit me
in California.
She did her very first balletclass.
(01:00:40):
And I'm not talking about ageriatric ballet class where you
know you're helping her on thebar.
She'd watched it her whole life.
The turning point was ShirleyMcLean.
I trained Shirley McLean forbalance for a movie and stuff,
which was beautiful.
My mum is standing there in herleotard, in full ballet, you
know, shoes and everything,doing all her bar work, going in
(01:01:04):
the center, doing all her centerwork.
And later that week, she rode abike.
For the first time in her life.
How amazing when we turn aroundand say it's age, it's not.
It's information, it's desire,it's willingness, it's having
something that you live for towant to get up and make the best
(01:01:26):
memories forward.
So, with that, if people wouldlike to stay in contact with me,
which I'd love you to, and I tryand respond to every message
that comes in, you can go toTotalBalanceCompany.com and
learn about the program.
You can go to bornsuperhuman.com, which was our
(01:01:47):
first podcast, which is anincredible program.
You can also get both on socialmedia, Born Superhuman on
Instagram and Total BalanceCompany on Instagram, and both
of them on Facebook.
And then Dan Metcalf underscoreofficial on Instagram.
And it's an honor.
I so appreciate you in here,Hannah, letting me come on
(01:02:10):
because it's a different type ofpodcast, it's a different
conversation.
But I didn't create this tosell.
I created this to help people,and it's helped tens of
thousands of people.
And that's why I'm so passionateabout it.
Because if we can change onelife to believe in themselves
again, to see a better future,to live the dreams they thought
(01:02:35):
they would never achieve, or dosomething again they never
thought they'd do again.
That is the essence of life.
And it keeps people alive andbelieving that it's worth being
here to share with theirfamilies, their loved ones, and
their friends.
SPEAKER_01 (01:02:58):
And that's something that, especially with all of
this back stuff, I can say hasbeen life-changing for me to
meet people like you, and thathave that refusal to believe
that we just stop moving when weget older, or we just stop
(01:03:18):
moving when we get injured.
And I refuse to believe that.
(01:03:41):
Because there's truly nothingthat you can't do.
And I love born superhuman, ofcourse, it's in your background,
but I I love the that corebelief of being superhuman and
our bodies being miraclesbecause it's true.
And sometimes we just need to bereminded of that.
So thank you, thank you, thankyou for this conversation.
(01:04:02):
It was an honor to have you onagain.
SPEAKER_00 (01:04:04):
Thank you.
We can do anything.
Anyone listening, put your mindto it.
Everything's possible, but themagic we seek is in the work we
avoid.
You know you should do it ifyou're willing to do it.
You will achieve things thatwill make you so proud and will
stay with you till your lastbreath.
SPEAKER_01 (01:04:25):
Thank you, Dan.
SPEAKER_00 (01:04:26):
Thank you.
Hello, welcome back to the podcast.
So I had Dan on a bit ago, DanMedcalf, and I had such a fun
and meaningful conversation withyou, Dan, and we didn't even hit
half of what we wanted to talkabout.
So we decided just to record awhole nother episode on Total
(01:34):
Balance Company.
And I am super excited to talkto you about health and balance
and how we can continue to keepour neurons firing in our brain.
And it's something that I knowyou have a really great grasp
on, not only from a knowledgestandpoint and a research
(01:54):
standpoint, from but also frompersonal experience.
So I am very excited to have youon the podcast.
And thank you so much forjoining us again.
SPEAKER_00 (02:03):
Oh, it's my pleasure.
It was.
We had a great chat the firsttime.
And I'm I don't want to say moreexcited, but I'm as excited
because what we're going toaddress today is life-changing.
And when you talk about journeyto well, this is real.
This is not, you know, for somepeople, this is for everybody.
(02:27):
So I will say if you havebalance issues, and we're
talking about mobility balance,if you know somebody that has,
or you want to prevent what'slabeled as, well, it just
happens because we age, thispodcast is for you because not
only are we going to change yourthought process, we would change
the messaging into your brainthat's actionable.
(02:49):
And let's get started.
I'm excited about this one.
SPEAKER_01 (02:53):
You stole my first question, which was, who is this
podcast for?
Because when I think, and evenwhen I'm kind of looking at your
website of Total BalanceCompany, and I think balance, we
immediately my brain immediatelygoes to elderly and having
balance issues, or uh even maybedoing like some really tough
(03:15):
balance things when we're kids.
Like, I well, maybe not whenwe're kids, when we're an adult,
like closing your eyes andbalancing on one foot or trying
to like make yourself fall offbalance.
So, who specifically is thispodcast episode for and why is
it worth having thisconversation?
SPEAKER_00 (03:35):
Let me tell you how important balance is so people
understand, and then we'll saywho it's for.
They did a study of 1,300 womenin Europe that they followed for
20 years.
And these women were 60 years orolder.
Balance was the test, and theywanted to see how important is
(03:59):
balance for mobility so that youcan move and lose the fear.
How important is it for life?
This is what they discovered.
Tracking these people, this isdata.
This is not someone coming upwith some ideology to try and
sell a product.
It's nothing.
This is not what we're here for.
This is an education to say ageis never the reason.
(04:23):
Those women, over 1,300 womenthat they tracked, the ones that
had good balance, the top 30%that had good balance, lived
eight years longer.
This isn't eight years in ahospital bed on a drip taking
drugs.
This is eight quality years.
Now I don't know anything elsein the world that we could look
(04:46):
at on its own and say, just byhaving this, you will live eight
quality years longer.
That's memories.
That's around your family,that's new experiences, that's
making memories ahead of yourage.
And so this podcast is foreverybody that is aging,
(05:08):
everybody that has a partner, afamily member, a grandparent
that's aging, because we willdecline in our balance unless we
address it.
Now, I'll also add to that thesame system is used with Olympic
world record holders.
It's used with children with thegenesis of the corpus callosum.
(05:29):
It's used with athletes that aretrying to increase their balance
and mobility.
It's used with people that don'thave balance issues, but don't
want to lose their balancebecause that's how critical
movement is to life.
But this is where it gets evenmore beautiful.
I train an incredible group ofParkinson's, hundreds of
(05:49):
Parkinson's fighters, MS, strokesurvivors, TBIs, and anybody
that's suffering from aneurological disease that is
affecting their balance.
So when we turn around and say,Well, Dan, you've got to be more
specific, it can't do that foreverybody.
When you understand the systemthat I'm going to reveal now, it
(06:12):
goes against what we've beentaught, yet the results with
myself training over 70,000people, this is groundbreaking.
We've got doctors jumping on it,we have physical therapists
incorporating it.
We have people that are sayingthis is a must-have if you want
to retain your balance andreverse the effects of aging
(06:33):
when it comes to movement.
SPEAKER_01 (06:35):
One thing that kept coming up to me today as I was
preparing for this podcast wasone thing that I have noticed
entering into my third decade oflife is I'm less interested in
quick fixes and more interestedin long-term foundational
(07:02):
changes and things that I canimplement into my life.
And one thing that you said thatreally sparked that reminder was
having those good years, havingthose healthy years, not just
living longer, but actuallyhaving a solid quality of life,
which that is something that Ithink about, I think now that
(07:26):
I'm in my 30s, is like I want tonot just survive to 80, 90 years
old, whatever it is.
I want to really thrive and whatcan I do to address that.
And it seems like thisconversation is going to address
that.
So I'm very curious to hear howbalance can affect our quality
(07:49):
of life.
And I love that it's veryapplicable to so many age
ranges.
Um, especially, of course, youknow, my audience is a little
bit, tends to be a little bityounger.
Um, so and athletes and how wecan apply this to athletes as
well as, I mean, we all haveparents, we all have aunts,
uncles, we all have people thatare in our lives that are older.
(08:12):
And that's really important tome as well, is to make sure that
my parents are having healthylives and my aunts and my uncles
and my sister are having reallyquality years in their life on
this beautiful earth.
So, um, where would you like tostart?
I don't even know where tostart, Dan.
Where would you like to start?
SPEAKER_00 (08:32):
I love your honesty, and and you talk about being in
your third decade of life, andit makes uh it sounds like it's
an old thing.
You look so young.
And I'm like, I remember thatlong ago.
So let's go to here.
I'm gonna give everybodylistening today an education to
be able to explain itthemselves.
(08:53):
I'm not here to tell you what tothink.
I'm gonna let you understandthis is scientific, it's
factual, it's researched, it'sproven, and the results have
been phenomenal.
We are changing the way thatpeople now perceive aging and
balance of mobility.
So let me go back a little bitto how this even came about.
(09:15):
There was a gentleman by thename of Bob Eubanks.
Bob Eubanks was the, I think hewas on the newlywed game for 50
years, TV celebrity, RoseParade, hosted that, I think,
for 38 years.
The guy was brilliant.
He was 79 years old, a businesspartner with me, and started
falling.
Well, I owned a sportsperformance training center in
(09:37):
here in Los Angeles.
It was all about movement forathletic performance.
So when I saw him falling andnot having that control of the
body, I said, let me train you.
So I did what any great traineris going to do.
We're going to strengthen yourlegs, strengthen your hip
flexors, strengthen your core,you're going to balance better,
you're going to walk better,you're going to have that
confidence again.
Within two minutes of traininghim, I knew I was 100% wrong.
(10:01):
And this was where Bob opened mylife up to help people by going
back to the facts and not asupposition.
When I tried to get Bob to movethrough these athlete ladders
that I use with, you know,Olympians and professional
athletes, he couldn't go throughit.
He couldn't lift his feet offthe ground.
And I said, okay, let's go putyour hands on the wall.
(10:22):
You put your hands on the wall,we'll lift the legs, let's work
the hip flexors.
As soon as his hands were on thewall, his legs could fire like
pistons up and down.
But as soon as he let go of thewall, he couldn't move his body
properly.
So I had to look at it and say,the problem is not the body,
what's going on?
So I started looking at thebrain-to-body connection.
(10:43):
Because when Bob felt confident,he was free to move.
As soon as he didn't feelconfident, it shut down.
So I started going back andsaying, How do babies learn to
walk?
How do we have it, thebrain-body connection, and how
does it truly work?
And that's where in three weeks,at the age of 79, Bob Eubanks
(11:06):
went from the senior shuffle,hunched over, fearful to wake up
each day not knowing what wasahead, to running six miles an
hour on a treadmill, in onlythree weeks running up and down
stairs, back playing golf, backwalking with his wife and dog
round the um, you know, in themorning round the block, and
doing everything.
But the greatest change was hewoke up excited for his years
(11:30):
ahead.
He suddenly lost the fear.
So feel free to stop me at anypoint and question, because once
I start going on on this, it'sexciting.
This is this is education.
SPEAKER_02 (11:41):
I can feel it.
SPEAKER_00 (11:42):
So I created this balanced training system which
was brain to body.
And I'm gonna say somethingright now because I want to get
this out the way early.
Have you ever heard of musclememory?
Yeah.
And I was a head coach on theOlympic program.
I've trained so manyprofessional athletes and youth
to pro and college.
(12:03):
So, of course, I preached musclememory.
SPEAKER_01 (12:06):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (12:07):
Until we went through this and realized there
is no such thing as musclememory.
Now people go, oh, I did thesame thing.
When I first heard there's nosuch thing because I'm
researching and researching withneuroscientists.
Of course, there's musclememory.
That's how we get stronger inthe gym, that's how we get
better at moving.
If you took a muscle out ofsomeone's body and laid it on a
(12:31):
slab, it's not gonna move,right?
It's no longer functioning.
But if you took electrodes andfed electricity in from one end
to the other, the muscle, eventhough it's out the body, will
still jump.
We've seen it, we know it.
So it got me thinking (12:48):
if that happens, how can it be that we
have muscle memory, yet themuscle can't move on its own,
which means it can't have itsown memory.
So, with more research, Istarted looking.
A muscle moves because of anelectrical impulse that's fed to
it.
So our frontal cortex goes, hmm,I want to move.
(13:09):
We then send the message todifferent areas in the brain,
but the cerebellum that thensays I want to move, it fires
the neurons to the motor cortexthat sends the message to the
muscle, and the muscle moves.
So, how does it move?
It moves because it has anelectrical impulse from the
neurons.
(13:30):
So we don't have muscle memory,we have neuron memory.
Muscle repetition would give usstrength, the ability to do the
same thing again and again,stamina and endurance.
But anytime someone begins tolose their balance or mobility,
it's because there's adisconnect from the brain to the
body to send that neuron memoryto the muscle and activate.
(13:55):
And that will lessen justbecause we're not moving.
It's like I call it frayedwiring.
So I created this system thatreconnects the brain to the
body, messaging out to theproprioception.
That's how we feel what'shappening.
But so importantly, the sensorymessaging going back from our
(14:15):
feet or whatever body part we'retouching the walls to our brain
so quickly that the brain thenfigures out what's happening
before we're even conscious ofit.
And this has happened our wholelife until we begin to lose our
balance or feel that we'relosing our balance because of a
neurological decline.
SPEAKER_01 (14:38):
And can you dive a little bit into the fear aspect
of this whole conversation?
Because you brought up a goodpoint with Bob of you know,
being afraid of falling.
And I know that that certainlycomes up with athletes as well,
having a fear of re-injury.
(15:00):
That is very real in my life.
I've shared very openly about myback stuff, my lower back stuff,
and having a lot of fear aroundre-entering the gym and then
possibly re-injuring.
So, does that have anything todo with neuron firing?
Or obviously there's a mentalcomponent, but yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (15:21):
Okay, so I can go into you're asking all the right
questions to keep me excitedbecause this is what I spent a
long time researching and thenfiguring out what I created
includes all this stuff thatpeople are telling.
When we look at fear, fear isgoverned by brain reaction.
(15:43):
So we we feel that fear, andwe've heard about the freeze or
fight or flight or fawn, right?
There's all these differentthings that we go to.
When we've had an injury orwe've had an accident, and this
was discovered back at BristolUniversity back in England about
10 years ago, there's a part ofthe cerebellum, which is our
(16:06):
movement center, control centerthat attaches to other parts of
the brain, that there's a pieceof it called the pyramids.
It's towards the center of thecerebellum.
The pyramid is a memory onmovement.
So if I said to you, Hannah,walk to the edge of the curb,
the sidewalk, as fast as youcan, stop, look and see if
(16:27):
there's cars coming, and thenkeep crossing.
You'd do that with confidence.
There's no danger, it's maybe afive-inch drop.
I feel good.
But if I said to you, Hannah,walk at the same speed to the
edge of a 200-foot cliff drop,you wouldn't walk at the same
speed, even though the point ofstopping is exactly the same.
(16:47):
It's the edge.
The perception of danger causesthe brain to say, slow down.
And the brain won't react asquickly when there's fear
involved, because it's eithergoing to make you move slower,
or when something happens, thebrain goes, okay, we need to
figure it out.
We've got to go down, and bythat time you've fallen.
(17:09):
So when you have the pyramidsthat's will then send the
messages to the pack, PAG, thatgoes in and says, This is
danger.
We will not function and move atthe full speed because the brain
is only created to keep usalive.
That's its purpose.
Keep us safe so we can stayalive.
Our mindset changes how thebrain's going to operate, not
(17:32):
the brain itself, because thebrain would love for you to sit
down and do nothing all daybecause it knows that you're
going to be safe.
Now, the way to remove fear isto address it in a way that the
brain now trusts the journeyahead.
Let me say that again.
We have to remove the fear sothe brain will give the freedom
(17:56):
to allow us to have the fullmovement or fear, fearlessness.
Is that even a word?
For the journey ahead.
And so until we understand whywe're being slowed down, and
most of us aren't even cognitiveof the fear that we have, like
how it's affecting us, we haveto change the brain's function
(18:18):
and then the body will flow.
SPEAKER_01 (18:23):
This is so interesting to me.
So then, of course, the nextquestion is how do we begin to
change that fear response into afearlessness response?
Yeah, that's the question.
SPEAKER_00 (18:44):
So it's actually much easier than we uh would
believe, but we have to bewilling to go through the steps.
So let me explain it this wayyour back injury, and you've
tried so many things to removethe pain and the fear of more
pain or limitations.
And I've seen the pictures andvideos of you out on the
(19:06):
retreat, you're moving great.
But in the back of your mind,there's still that fear that
goes on.
We have to put ourselves in asafe space of trust for the
brain to let go.
So we've got to start takingsmall steps to test how far we
can go and trust the body thatit can handle the small steps.
(19:31):
And when we begin to feel a veryslight tweak, we stop because
we're protecting.
We don't have that, you know, nopain, no gain is when you're
healthy, not when you'reinjured.
No pain, no gain is not whenyou're living in fear.
What we need to do is create themovements that challenges the
body to strengthen withoutcausing more injury.
(19:54):
Because once we do it again anddo it again and do it again, we
will stop doing it because wedon't trust what will happen.
So, for example, your backinjury.
You say, Okay, I want tostrengthen my lower back.
What exercises would be good tostart feeling?
So it may just be something likelaying face down on your bed and
just lifting your shoulders offof the bed.
And you feel the muscles, thespinal erectus going up the
(20:17):
spine, and go, you know what,that feels okay.
If I feel a twinge, we'll stop,we'll go backwards, we'll find
it, may just be leaning forwardagainst the chair and standing
up until I can begin to feel theactivation of the muscles
without the engagement of eitherfor people that may have you
know bulging discs or somethinglike that.
(20:37):
What can I do that doesn'tcreate and the brain goes, I'm
okay at this point.
Now we've done more and provento ourselves that that much is
okay.
Then you wait a day, see ifthere's a secondary reaction off
of the movement.
Second day is good, I'll try itagain.
It's good.
I don't need to take a third dayoff.
(20:57):
I'm now gonna turn around andgo, I'm gonna try a new
movement.
Oh, there's no pain when I'mdoing that.
Okay, let's do this repetitivelyfor 20 times, 30 times.
Then you begin to feel a littlebit of a twinge.
Okay, I did 30, it was too much.
I'll take a day off, I'll comeback and do 20.
I know 20 is the safe number.
Then I'll try 21.
(21:18):
And what happens, the braingoes, hang on a minute, I can do
this.
And the area that's moving orbeing challenged, then turns
around and goes, I'm gettingstronger because I'm moving
instead of avoiding.
And I will say on my balancetraining system, I've had
numerous people with scoliosisthat couldn't work out, been to
(21:39):
chiropractor, tried physicaltherapy, tried gym workouts with
trainers, and have given up.
But when we put them on theboard and I teach how to lift
off of your spine, not only werethey becoming pain-free, their
scoliosis began to straightenup.
It began to go back to normalbecause when you're trying to
(22:00):
balance, when you're trying tomove, the brain isn't thinking,
where's my spine?
The brain's thinking, how do Ifind my balance?
So it was naturally getting thespine to realign because we had
to be realigned to balance.
The brain was bypassing thespine, and yet it was adapting
the spine because the pressurepoints in our feet were
(22:23):
revealing the balance or thelack of balance, and how do I
correct it?
So it's fascinating.
If I go into balance and explainit, because this one I can go
into perfectly.
That's actually a littlearrogant to say I can go into it
perfectly, perfectionist inopinion.
But you know when you saysomething and then you turn
around and go, hang on a minute,did I just say that?
(22:44):
But that's the confidence.
SPEAKER_01 (22:45):
Yeah, retract that.
SPEAKER_00 (22:47):
No, I'm gonna say it because I believe it'll be
great.
But I've trained so many people,I've seen the results.
Someone that's fearful offalling isn't gonna want to step
on a balance board.
And the balance board I have isvery gentle, but when you're
scared of the ground, you're notgonna get on a balance board.
SPEAKER_03 (23:05):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (23:05):
So what I did, and this was from working with Bob
and creating this system neverto sell.
This was only created to helpBob off of the education I was
learning and the practice andtraining that we were doing.
I put handles in the poles andpoles in the board so that when
you get on the board, you canhold on with your arms.
Now, this is really important.
(23:26):
Well, why wouldn't you hold achair?
The chair doesn't rock with you,the chair becomes your
grounding.
So when you hold on to thechair, that's what's grounding
you that you can lean on.
It's not your feet.
But when you stand on a balanceboard that's completely safe,
it's gonna support you.
And people are always scaredgetting on it.
Within two minutes, threeminutes, they're like, Oh,
(23:47):
they're playing on it.
They go, I was scared of theground, now I'm playing on a
board because we put the handlesin.
Now the handles are the criticalpiece.
If you didn't have thosehandles, the brain would go,
hang on a minute, I'm introuble.
I want to get off of this board.
It would try and get you free.
You're gonna live in that fearmoment and getting on, you live
in the fear moment.
But as soon as you hold thehandles and feel the gentle
(24:10):
rock, the brain goes, I'm safe.
And once you're safe, the braingoes, Okay, now we can play.
Now I'm not gonna slow down outof fear the movement, and you'll
find people incredibly quicklystart doing things that they
wouldn't even do on the hardground, let alone on a board.
(24:31):
And I have over 300 exercises onthe board to challenge going
back to how does a baby learn towalk?
If we've done it before, we cando it again as long as the brain
is functioning because we haveneuron memory.
And then I challenge every partof your body from your core
through your hips, through yourquads, your hamstrings, your
(24:53):
glutes, your knee joint to havethe muscles able to support all
the way down to the feet.
And when you can touch on everypart of the foot, the inside,
the outside, the toes, theheels, the brain goes, I am so
much better than I was led tobelieve.
Because the brain doesn't knowthe difference between reality
(25:13):
and fiction.
I'll say that again.
The brain doesn't know thedifference between reality and
fiction.
And people, of course they do.
Well, let me ask you this,Hannah.
Have you ever had a dream thatwas so real you woke up in the
morning in a different state?
SPEAKER_01 (25:31):
Yes, I don't like those.
SPEAKER_00 (25:34):
Okay, and have you ever had those where your body
temperatures are up, or you'resweating, or you're feeling um a
fear or an excitement?
You think you're going onvacation and you have to look
around and you have to tellyourself, hang on a minute, it
was a dream.
SPEAKER_01 (25:51):
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (25:54):
Everyone listening has experienced that.
How did our body react as if itwas real, if the brain knew that
it was just a dream?
And we had to bring ourselvesback to reality by saying it was
a dream, we may still feel it,and then we think, and then we
bring ourselves back down to astate of reality.
(26:15):
Well, it's the same when you'reworking on a fear-based um
restriction.
Whether it's your back, whetherand again, it's gotta be smart.
It can't be, oh, it's not real.
No, what you went through isreal.
The pyramids is telling you inyour brain, this is real.
The amygdala is telling you thisis real until we get to the
(26:37):
point where we can prove to thebrain the fear was momentary and
it doesn't govern our future.
And that's where I turn aroundand say we've been misled over
years and years of it's justbecause of aging.
It's just well, you had anaccident, that's just the way it
is.
Your back will always be bad andwe can't fix it.
(26:59):
Or if you move, it's gonna getworse.
For those that didn't hear thefirst podcast, I was paralyzed.
They told me that I would bedisabled for life.
If I listened, I would still bedisabled today.
But I knew there was more to me.
I had a major brain injury whereI was knocked unconscious, part
(27:19):
of my brain died.
I had to learn to talk and learnto function, which was a gift.
It was incredible because itallowed me to go and study the
brain for my own health, andthat's where I was able to
create this brain-to-bodyreconnection.
Otherwise, I wouldn't be where Iam today.
I wouldn't be sitting heretalking with you and sharing
(27:40):
invaluable time with yourlisteners if I wasn't where I
was today.
Having gone through what I wentthrough, which was a gift.
So when we look at the brainpower, it's incredible what we
can achieve.
So when you put your mind to it,you can do anything.
We've heard that all the time.
And then we're told, but this isgoing to happen to you.
(28:04):
Well, if we really believe that,then putting our mind to it
doesn't mean it means we'regoverned by time, not governed
by mindset.
My dad went to the doctor nottoo long ago and he said, Uh,
doctor, my right leg's hurting.
You know, what's going on?
He goes, Well, Malcolm, you'rejust getting old.
And he says, Doctor, my leftleg's the same age.
(28:24):
How come that one's not hurting?
I love that answer.
SPEAKER_01 (28:31):
That's good.
SPEAKER_00 (28:32):
Because how come there's a 90-year-old running a
marathon and there's a65-year-old that can't stand up
and walk confidently?
unknown (28:42):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (28:47):
So it's again, we go ahead and ask any questions for
clarification because again,your audience in your age range
do have uncles, aunts,grandparents, parents that are
gonna go through this.
But this is what's beautiful.
Especially, we're reallyfocusing right now on mothers
(29:08):
that just gave birth or mothersthat are about to give birth.
We all know getting the bodyback is hard after birth.
What women go through isincredible, right?
What their body goes through.
We found by balanced trainingand isolation, which we do on
the board, we're able to get anincredible effect on abs,
(29:29):
thighs, and buns that they cando in 10 minutes a day while
their baby's sleeping.
They don't have to leave thehome.
And the effects results uh offthe charts because we're now
engaging the brain to controlthe muscle rather than just
going in and thoughtlesslyworking out.
And so we can get more dynamictension, more body sculpting,
(29:52):
more strength and shaping byengaging the brain in specific
exercises with resistance thanjust going out and moving
freely.
SPEAKER_01 (30:05):
I have I have a few things.
One thing that you wereexplaining there's the pole and
the handles and the in the boardand connecting that research
that you've done with babieslearning to walk.
You've probably already madethis connection and said this,
but for the listeners, it makesme think of when we're teaching
(30:27):
a baby to walk, we hold theirhands.
And I've spent a lot of timeswith a lot of times with babies,
even though I don't have anykids yet.
But um even just putting yourhand out without them grabbing
it, it gives them thatconfidence that they can do it.
And in the beginning, you'reholding their their little hand
and backing up so they can walkforward.
(30:49):
And that really reminded me ofthe board that you're talking
about and having that stabilitysignal to the brain that you are
safe, that you have something tohold on to, and then you're able
to do all of these exercises,whereas, you know, otherwise
when we're trying To do thingswithout having any stability, we
(31:13):
can feel balance balance things.
I mean, we can feel veryoff-kilt, or and I can even feel
that way too, or you know,closing your eyes and trying to
do these balance exercises.
It's so much harder because youdon't have that proprioception
and you don't have that sense ofsafety of the signals to your
brain.
So I wanted to just kind ofshare that little insight.
(31:34):
If you have kids or you've seenbabies, that sounds just so
similar to me, and I love that.
And I love anything, I actuallyfound a similar program that
talked about reconnecting to howdo babies strengthen their
muscles, how do babies learn tomove and going back to when we
were children and and using thatinnate knowledge because babies
(31:57):
just do it, right?
They're not told, like, hold myhand and you'll be able to walk.
They're just so they have all ofthis innate wisdom within their
body already.
And I love anything to do withthat, that wisdom and that
knowledge with babies.
Um, I'll let you respond to thatbefore I move on.
If you have anything, you don'thave to.
SPEAKER_00 (32:18):
Yeah, absolutely.
So if muscles were the reasonthat we can walk and you know
have balance and mobility, wewould take babies to the gym.
What's happening when they'retrying to stand up?
Look, when they first roll over,they're engaging that
proprioception of different bodyparts feeling the ground and the
(32:41):
brain is connecting to the body.
So when a baby's born, and andokay, let's go back into this
even more.
Sitting there, Hannah, andeveryone listening as an adult
has roughly 86 billion braincells.
When a baby is born, do you knowhow many brain cells a baby has
when they're born?
SPEAKER_01 (33:01):
More, I would assume, but no idea.
SPEAKER_00 (33:04):
About 86 billion brain cells.
So we don't have more thanbabies have.
We think because their head issmaller, that they would have
less.
What they don't have is thesynapse, the messaging of how
those brain cells, those neuronsare gonna basically wire.
We talk about hardwiring thebrain, how they're gonna think.
(33:25):
So that's why babies willrepeat, they'll see, they'll
follow, they'll see someonewalking, they're gonna try and
stand up and walk.
Because the brain is figuringout where do I need to go to
increase my quality of life ormy safety in life.
Now you can say, well, hang on,a baby doesn't feel safe because
if it falls over, wouldn't thebrain the brain isn't developed
(33:46):
yet.
But it's copying, repeating,hearing, responding, tasting,
smelling, all these are comingaround.
And when you talk about balancewith your eyes closed, the eyes
bring a spatial awareness thatworks with the vestibular
system, which your eyes, yourears, all the other areas.
But when you remove them, itdoesn't mean you say you should
(34:08):
be less balanced.
It means that you're going tofocus more on the sensory and
the cerebellum.
And so you're 100% right lookingat how babies learn to walk and
or how they learn to stand.
It's trial and error, trial anderror.
But once we hardwire the brainto feel it, we don't have to go
back and do it again until webegin to lose it.
(34:30):
And losing it comes from notexercising, not moving.
So if you think back to yourlife and everyone listening, we
were probably most activephysically between the ages of
11 and 20.
Between zero and 10, we werelearning, we're getting up,
we're exploring, but we weren'tconstantly in motion.
(34:51):
Then we go to school, middleschool, high school, and
college, and we're active.
We're either walking to classesor we're part of sports or we're
continuing the dance classes wehad until we run out of the of
the passion.
Between 20 and 30 is the firsttime we begin to decline the
amount of movement we've done.
(35:11):
Because now we're behind desk alittle bit more, we're studying
a little bit more, we find a jobthat we're not staying as active
in.
And of course, there's always,I'm talking generally.
SPEAKER_02 (35:23):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (35:23):
We we maybe we're standing behind a counter
serving, we may be a waitress ora waiter or something, but we're
not engaging in multi-differentdirectional movement.
SPEAKER_03 (35:34):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (35:34):
And so what happens is the brain goes, I'm not now
engaged in jumping side to side.
And so I'm not going to havethat response to balance
compared to when I was flyingeverywhere.
Then between 30 and 40, we beginto take a major drop normally
between 20 and 30.
But I believe we have a 10-yearpayoff.
(35:54):
So if we've moved a lot between11 and 20, we'll have a really
good time between 21 and 30because we've held on to that
memory and we're still young andwe're still active and we're
still developing.
The brain stops growth reallyaround 26, 27, is when we begin
get more set.
So then, if we didn't move muchbetween 20 and 30, we're going
(36:18):
to struggle from 30 to 40, andyou see it, the less active
people, by the time they hit 35,they're not moving like they
used to, but they're only 35.
So if you then don't movebetween much 20 and 30, and 30
to 40, you're decline.
By the time you get 40 and 50,you're on a downward slope.
And you'll see we tend to beaging.
(36:39):
We got two extremes.
Those that are super fit.
And I will say, back in theprobably 80s, 90s, with the
whole aerobics movement, peoplewere actually fitter longer.
Now we spend more time onscreen, sitting down, driving,
not exercising.
And what we're doing is we'regetting the brain to think
linear.
We tend to walk one path.
(37:01):
We get up, we do the same thingevery day.
We walk forward, we sit down.
We don't jump side to side,we're not twisting and turning
and dancing as much as we were.
So the brain is shrinking in itsability to feel and react
quickly because we're not usingit.
In the old adage, if we don'tuse it, we lose it.
(37:21):
And so because we're not asactive, we will age faster, not
in looks, not in skin and allthe other stuff because we've
got so much knowledge, becausetruthfully, it makes money.
So we're going to keepdeveloping it and we're going to
push it, and people will be ableto look more healthy, but they
won't move more healthy.
(37:41):
And we know movement is criticalto brain function, muscle
strengthening, osteoporosis, allthe things that begin to help
the aging process speed up, andyet at the base of it all is
movement.
I don't know if that answeredyour question because I love
going off on these processesthat flow, but it's
(38:02):
understanding take care ofyourself today.
Invest in your future today,because most people won't, and
there's three three basic umprogressions.
One, I'm doing great.
I don't have a balance issue, Idon't have a mobility issue, and
you don't even think about it.
You're walking down the streeton a cell phone, looking in a
(38:23):
shop window, going, I like thatpurse.
While you're talking to someone,while an ambulance is going by
with a siren, somebody's arguingwith their spouse and a dog's
chasing a cat.
We never think of our balance.
SPEAKER_03 (38:34):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (38:34):
And then suddenly we wake up one day and go, oh, I
feel a little off balance.
Oh, it will correct itself.
We don't pay attention to thewarning signs.
That's really the first step.
There's a warning sign.
And we ignore it, but basicallythe brain's saying, I need to
move more.
Take action.
The second step is now I've gota problem.
(38:55):
I'm fearful, I don't know whereto go.
I'll go to a physical therapist,and there's great physical
therapists out there, and youknow, occupational therapy and
all this stuff that I wentthrough for my paralysis to come
back.
However, they'll train yourbody, they don't train your
brain.
And that's where thedisconnect's happening.
(39:17):
So you go there, you get bored,you don't feel like you're
getting better.
And so you kind of like justresign, I'm just getting older.
And then the next step, which isthe most critical, you've tried
things, it's not working, or youhaven't tried anything, and now
you know you need to, but you'vegone past the point of no
return.
(39:38):
I personally don't agree withthat.
If you can stand up, or if yourmuscles work, I've taken people
that are 90-year-olds in inwheelchairs that haven't walked
in five years and they're backwalking unaided.
People a hundred years oldgetting up out of chairs and
moving again.
But we now get to the pointwhere we resign ourselves to the
end, the decline.
(39:58):
I can't get better.
And that is a mindset falsehoodthat's been fed to us by
society.
And the testing that we have forbrain body connection, the
testing that we have forbalance, full risk, in my
opinion, is insufficient to whatit should be.
And I'll explain this to you andthen any other questions, jump
(40:21):
in.
When we balance on one foot,that becomes static balance.
We have dynamic balance and wehave static balance.
Dynamic balance is balancedwhile you're moving.
Static balance is can I standbalanced without moving?
When we do static balance, forexample, stand on one leg, hold
(40:43):
it for 10 seconds, okay, you'renot a full risk.
We're only using three parts ofthe brain.
You have the cerebellum, well,first of all, it's the frontal
lobe, prefrontal cortex, that'sgoing, don't move.
So it sends a message to thecerebellum going, don't move,
which then sends a message tothe corpus callosum, which is
the area that combines the leftand right hemisphere of our
(41:04):
brain and says, don't move.
So we're training ourselves notto move, and we're only engaging
those three parts because if allthree activate, we will stand
there.
But if you turn around and go,instead of standing on one leg,
move as if you're a tree.
Stand on one leg and move thatleg like we used to as kids.
(41:24):
We're a tree in the wind andwe're waving our arms everywhere
and going.
Now over 18 parts of the brainbegin to wake up and go, okay,
I'm there's a danger.
I'm a little bit off.
It's not dangerous.
I can sort this out because Idon't have a fear of falling.
So now you're doing it, and thenif you're going off, you put
(41:45):
your foot down, go, can I do itmore?
Can I last longer?
We're playing and the brain'sengaged in the play.
But what we're really doing iswe're engaging every part of our
body to regain balance.
And if anybody's been on atightrope walk and you're on the
trying to balance and you'removing your arms and you're
doing and the rope's goingunderneath your feet, we're
(42:05):
we're enjoying it, the brain isso engaged, and that creates
neuroplasticity.
This is what's fascinating.
The brain can only improve orgrow or have neurogenesis going
on when it's challenged, butneuroplasticity itself is
(42:27):
created from errors.
The brain will not createneuroplasticity unless it's
making errors.
Very easy to explain.
Because the brain is made tokeep us alive and safe.
When we make a mistake, thebrain goes, I need okay, what do
I need to learn?
Well, there's something that'sgoing on, I need to, and it
(42:47):
begins to open up differentareas of the brain.
If it's I'm taking a test, I gotit wrong, it will open up a part
of your brain, maybe thehippocampus that has your memory
in, or we're going to give newinformation, and other parts
that are going to be activatedif you're reading the occipital
lobe and different areas.
But when we're balance issues,when we train our balance, the
(43:11):
brain is trying to figure outwhat is the solution.
And every single part of thebrain will now wake up in case
it's the solution and proven.
I've done the testing, we'vedone brain scans going on while
people are on my balancetraining system.
Within about 10 minutes of thestart of the program, you see it
(43:33):
begin to rise, theneuroplasticity begins to rise,
the involvement of differentparts of the brain grows.
By the time you get to 10minutes, your brain is fully
alive in all areas.
We'll then continue for aboutanother 20 minutes, do a
30-minute workout, and after 30minutes, you can get off that
(43:54):
board, continue the everydayactivities, and that same
neuroplasticity will stay aroundat that level for at least 40
minutes after.
So it's incredible.
If you do balance trainingbefore you go into class to
learn, if you go in and do somebalance training before you take
a test, if you do balancetraining before you do a
(44:16):
presentation, your brain wakesup and will find the memories of
the past because it's trying tofigure out where's the solution.
And absolutely unbelievable howbecause the brain is making
errors, trying to figure out howto balance, we create the most
neuroplasticity.
And this comes from AndrewHuberman.
(44:37):
I don't know if you've everheard of Andrew Huberman, the
neuroscientist.
Go look at what he talks about,the brain making errors.
I'm looking to go and meet himvery soon and take the board up
and so he can see it.
Because he said that you knowthere's nothing out there that
does the complete system thathe's found yet.
We have it.
(44:58):
And we've done the testing toprove it.
And I'm so excited.
And this is maybe a thing beforewe transition out of here,
Hannah.
And I'm again I'm talking somuch because I get so excited
because it changes lives, itbrings life back to people.
Talk about journey to well.
When you're in decline,increasing your movement,
(45:18):
getting out in the sun, wantingto hydrate because you've got an
adventure ahead, all thesethings that we talk about get
fed by the ability to move andthe desire now to trust that you
can go and do it.
But when someone's been on theboard and they've worked out for
maybe five minutes, ten minutes,and I tell them step back on the
(45:38):
ground, they go, Oh my God, theground feels so safe.
I'm like, hang on a minute.
Five minutes ago, you werefearful of that ground.
They go, No, I so they suddenlyhave that proprioception, the
spatial awareness, theconfidence that if I can do that
on the board, the ground, I'mback in control.
(46:02):
And it's just the mind shiftchange where we change the
brain's reality of falseness, ofI can't do this to belief.
And the brain goes, Oh, I'mgood.
And then we start the journey tothe best years ahead.
SPEAKER_01 (46:20):
I love how everything is so connected
because one of the things that Ialways share is going through
the difficult moments kind ofgives us that perspective of how
beautiful the mundane momentswere in our lives.
And I always use this reallysilly, simple example of when I
(46:41):
moved to the city and I didn'thave a parking spot, and I had
to loop around the block 20times to find a parking spot,
and I got so many parkingtickets until I finally paid for
a parking spot, spent$200 amonth just to park.
And now there's not a day goesby that I'm not backing into my
driveway or backing into aparking spot at dinner where I
(47:05):
am not thankful for that parkingspot.
And you're just giving me thisbeautiful, kind of holistic,
full perspective on a body levelof the same thing.
When we do something that ischallenging or we put our bodies
through something that'schallenging them, that what we
kind of think about what we haveto do all the time, walking on
(47:29):
regular ground, that we eitherare afraid of or not, because
we've talked about it's reallybeneficial to both.
Um that then we have thatnewfound appreciation of just
walking on the ground and havingthat.
I love that.
That warmed my heart when yousaid that, of having that
feeling of stability, like thatthe ground feels so safe, safe
(47:51):
because I can't imagine whatthat feels like.
I can imagine in many other waysagain with my back, but what
that feels like of walking onthe ground and feeling unsafe to
walk on the ground.
And you are gifting these peoplethis beautiful, uh, this
beautiful gift of feeling safeand feeling stable, which just
(48:11):
makes me want to tear up.
I am so curious.
You said this probably 20minutes ago, but I have to loop
back to your feet.
Like I need to know, I get thedynamic movement piece, but you
said something about using allareas of your feet, and I
understand that, right?
(48:32):
So when we're doing these, I canlogically understand when we're
doing these things, we have touse all areas of our feet.
Can you talk about that though?
SPEAKER_00 (48:41):
Yes, so again, I was very fortunate to go from you
know professional soccer clubsback in England, having trained
with the Royal Marine cadets foreight years, thinking I'm gonna
go into the special forces, andI'm suddenly a dancer.
It's a it's a fun story whereyou know the aerobics teacher
(49:04):
that I was studying with becauseI had to get more supple because
I'd never really stretched, andI want to go mountain climbing
with the special forces andstuff.
She said you should become adancer.
I'm like, a dancer?
What do you mean a dancer?
I'm a man's man.
You know, in those days it wasvery effeminate to be a dancer.
So she dared me and I thoughtI'll go and I'll have an
experience, I'll go laugh, go todance audition.
When I go up to lose, I'll be inthe Marines in two weeks' time.
(49:26):
They offered me a fullscholarship to start in two
weeks' time.
And I was like, this isincredible.
So had to go back and tell mydad, I'm not going to go into
the military.
He came from a militarybackground, and I'm going to
become a dancer.
And that was that was a prettytough thing because I always
knew if it didn't work out, Icould go to the Marines a year
later.
I was super fit and strong.
And the reality is, I think Igot accepted because I was very
(49:48):
masculine rather than the fact Iwas a great dancer.
But I worked really hard.
Next thing I know, I'm in balletclass, jazz, tap, modern, you
know, national dances, all thesedifferent things before I found
out I could, you know, sing andact, and then ended up going on
to play the lead in Andrew LloydWebber shows.
If I hadn't have gone throughthat, and this is why I say
(50:10):
everything that happens to us isa gift if we wrap it correctly.
I didn't know that I would needall that knowledge that I
learned many years ago to nowhelp people recover.
Proprioception comes in threeforms.
It's either muscles, joints, orskin.
(50:32):
And if I explain it to anybodythat doesn't understand
proprioception, if there's a hotcup and you reach out and you
grab it, you will let go beforeyou're consciously aware of the
burn itself.
The burn comes second.
That's proprioception, themessaging from your skin to your
brain going, danger, the redalarm goes off.
(50:52):
We let go, and we're not evenconscious we've let go.
We drop it on the ground, thenwe're like, oh, I made a mess.
I wish I could have put it back.
No.
Or you wake up in the morning,you've got a bad back, and you
roll it, you go, Oh, so youhaven't even hardly moved yet,
but it's sending a message tothe brain saying there's an
issue here.
Or we have it where we have theum muscles where you've worked
(51:15):
out really hard the day beforeand you wake up and go, oh, I'm
so sore.
This is a form ofproprioception, it's messaging
of what's happening in the bodyback to the brain.
And then the brain will adjustor it will send a message to us
and go, Oh, I can't move, Ican't stretch like that today
because it's too painful ordanger.
The feet are obviously thecenter of our balance and
(51:37):
mobility for movement itself.
And so it's critical that withinthe pressure points on our feet,
every pressure point is aproprioception receptor that
then has to send the messageback to our brain so quickly
that we don't think about thebody has already made the
adjustment or the brain hasalready made the adjustment for
(51:58):
balance.
If we walk straight, and you'dall feel this, we only feel the
middle of our foot.
But as soon as we step on a rockand the and the foot goes
slightly to the side, or there'sa wobble in the sidewalk or the
paving stone, suddenly theoutside becomes aware, or we're
aware.
Oh, on the outside the foot, orwe're beginning to trip, we now
(52:20):
feel different parts of the feetreacting.
Now, this is why I love foottraining.
You can't send a message fromthe brain to the feet without
passing through every other partof your body.
Now, we'll say you don't have tosend it to your hands, but if I
want to send it to my feet, it'sgoing to go down through the
(52:41):
motor cortex, down through ourneck, down through our spine.
It's messaging all the waythrough our hips, down our legs,
knees, you know, obviouslycalves, ankles to the different
parts of the feet, and the toesare the furthest extremity,
which is why you'll find a lotof seniors will fall when they
begin to turn direction becausewe no longer have that
proprioception in the littletoe, or they'll begin to lean
(53:04):
and the messaging is slowed downbecause we're not using it.
The board that I personally use,and look, it's not about my
board.
This wasn't created to sell.
This was created to give peoplethe best option and opportunity
to get the best results as quickas they can.
If you're moving and you'redoing great, keep moving.
(53:25):
You don't have to have anythingextra, just don't stop what
you're doing because as you slowdown, that would disappear as
well.
But when you train your feet,the speed of messaging will keep
you safe.
Balance training, and this is acritical point, balance training
is not how far can I go and thencome back.
If you want that, use a bosuball because that's extreme.
(53:47):
I've seen athletes twist theirankle on a bosu ball because
it's hard to get on and get offthe board, and it's limited to
foot, you know, you're eithertwo feet even or one foot
center.
On our board, we can havemultiple, we've got so many
different foot positions toreplicate real life and the
strength we need and theresponsiveness.
(54:09):
But if you can get to the pointwhere you can train those feet
to be strong, go up on yourtoes.
Um, I actually have a red ballas well involved, uh a soft ball
involved on the board, that'sactually for foot mobility, foot
suppleness, suppleness iscritical, making sure that each
toe is working independently andhas strength as well.
(54:33):
You'll you'll see they'll talkabout people that you know lose
their toes or lost some toes andthey've lost their balance
because they're used to engagingit.
Well, now we have to train thatfoot to react on the main part
of the foot if the toes aregone, and we can do that if we
do the right training.
And I go through this, just cameto me.
I got this testimonial camethrough that shocked me.
(54:56):
Because I when I created this,it was just for Bob and people
that are losing their balance.
I didn't know how dynamic itwould be for anyone with a brain
and a goal.
If I want to move bad, I can go.
But I received this testimonialthrough, never ever paid for a
testimonial because if it's nottrue, why say it?
And if you have to pay, youdon't know if it's true.
(55:17):
This gentleman goes, Thank youso much, Dan, for creating this
balanced training system.
I'm a teacher, a physical edteacher at a blind school.
I'm it's mandatory for all ourstudents to get on the boards at
least once a day, and we'venoticed everyone's moving better
since getting on it.
unknown (55:38):
Wow.
SPEAKER_00 (55:39):
Now, who would have thought that when you're blind,
because people say, well,balance comes from your eyes?
Well, if that was the case, howdo blind people walk so well and
in more control often than weare?
And they go, Well, it comes fromthe vestibular system, it's all
through the years.
Well, if that was the case, howcould deaf people walk so well?
(56:00):
It's one big system, but whenyou lose a part, you can replace
it because your body is amiracle, your body is
incredible.
And if you want to become abetter athlete, if you want to
become a better dancer, primaballerina, if you want to go out
and have more fun, if you wantto adventure, if you want to
take part in triathlons oranything you want to do,
(56:23):
adventure races, take care ofyour brain-to-body connection as
the foundation of all movement,and the world will become what
everything you want it to be foryour athletic and health and
wellness.
SPEAKER_01 (56:40):
What a fun conversation, Dan.
I love chatting with you and Ilove your education that you
have provided us today.
You know that I love learningthe science behind things.
It's not just do this thing or Iread about this one time.
Clearly, you're very, verypassionate about this, and I can
(57:05):
see why, and it makes me lightup as well.
Um, where can people stayconnected with you?
I will also use this.
We should have said this in thebeginning.
If you haven't already listenedto our other podcast with Dan,
um scroll down a little bit onmy podcast because that podcast
(57:27):
was absolutely incredible aswell and completely different.
We didn't even talk about TotalBalance Company at all, I don't
think.
Um, so go listen to thatpodcast.
But otherwise, how can peoplestay connected with you?
SPEAKER_00 (57:40):
Thank you.
Well, can I finish with onestory?
SPEAKER_01 (57:43):
Please.
SPEAKER_00 (57:46):
My mom's a doctor.
She was 79 years old and had hada stroke.
I didn't know.
I live in Los Angeles, she livesback in England.
Mothers don't tell their kidswhen they're not doing well,
it's just that protection youdon't want you to worry.
So I went back for my mother's80th birthday, and I walk in.
She takes me and my brother andsisters into a room and she
(58:07):
says, You know, Dan, everyone, Ihad a stroke a year ago.
I said, Mom, you're doing great.
I hadn't seen her in four years,so I knew that she was moving a
little slower.
She had a little tightness inher face, but not bad.
And I just put it down to aging.
That was my irresponsibility.
I said, Mom, I would never haveknown you're doing great.
(58:28):
I can see.
She goes, No, I said, Well, it'sthe hardest thing.
What do you miss?
Well, she grew up in World WarII.
She wanted to be a dancer.
My sister became a professionalballet dancer.
I was a dancer and went on to,you know, theater, musical
theatre and stuff.
But she always wanted to dance.
She had two regrets in life.
One, that she had never done aballet class, and two, she had
(58:49):
never ever ridden a bike.
She was kind of like theCinderella of the family looking
after everybody.
And um, she had a brother whohad cerebral palsy, and you
know, she dedicated her life,and that's why she's still a
doctor.
She's still, at her beautifulage, still working five, six
days a week helping people as adoctor.
So I said, What's the hardestthing?
(59:10):
She goes, Down, I can no longerline dance.
She goes, That's my only relieffrom the stress.
She works with a lot of suicidepotential victims, and she's
taking on a lot of weight.
I used to love line dancing.
I said, When did you last go?
She goes, It's been a year sinceI've gone.
I tried to go back, but my bodywon't move quick enough to get
out the way or to be in linewith everyone.
So either they're a riskknocking me over, and remember,
(59:33):
she was 80 years old now, or shecould injure them if they
tripped over her.
I came back to America, hadn'teven released this as a product.
This was never made to sell,like I said.
This was purely made to help BobEubanks.
And then Mark de Cuscos, ifanybody knows Mark, he played
the lead in John Wick 3.
He's on uh the iron uh chef,he's the guy that goes a la
(59:56):
cuisine, he's on Hawaii.
He saw what happened and askedhim to help his mother-in-law
who had scoliosis and you knowhadn't walked in a year and was
back within two weeks walkingfour miles twice a week with her
friends again.
So anyway, I came back, madeanother board out of wood, sent
it to my mother.
Five days later, she went backto line dancing.
(01:00:18):
Here was this lady who had givenme life, and now she had lost
her freedom in life to do whatshe loved.
And in five days of using thesystem, she went back to line
dancing.
But this is where it getsbetter.
At 84, five years after herstroke, she came out to visit me
in California.
She did her very first balletclass.
(01:00:40):
And I'm not talking about ageriatric ballet class where you
know you're helping her on thebar.
She'd watched it her whole life.
The turning point was ShirleyMcLean.
I trained Shirley McLean forbalance for a movie and stuff,
which was beautiful.
My mum is standing there in herleotard, in full ballet, you
know, shoes and everything,doing all her bar work, going in
(01:01:04):
the center, doing all her centerwork.
And later that week, she rode abike.
For the first time in her life.
How amazing when we turn aroundand say it's age, it's not.
It's information, it's desire,it's willingness, it's having
something that you live for towant to get up and make the best
(01:01:26):
memories forward.
So, with that, if people wouldlike to stay in contact with me,
which I'd love you to, and I tryand respond to every message
that comes in, you can go toTotalBalanceCompany.com and
learn about the program.
You can go to bornsuperhuman.com, which was our
(01:01:47):
first podcast, which is anincredible program.
You can also get both on socialmedia, Born Superhuman on
Instagram and Total BalanceCompany on Instagram, and both
of them on Facebook.
And then Dan Metcalf underscoreofficial on Instagram.
And it's an honor.
I so appreciate you in here,Hannah, letting me come on
(01:02:10):
because it's a different type ofpodcast, it's a different
conversation.
But I didn't create this tosell.
I created this to help people,and it's helped tens of
thousands of people.
And that's why I'm so passionateabout it.
Because if we can change onelife to believe in themselves
again, to see a better future,to live the dreams they thought
(01:02:35):
they would never achieve, or dosomething again they never
thought they'd do again.
That is the essence of life.
And it keeps people alive andbelieving that it's worth being
here to share with theirfamilies, their loved ones, and
their friends.
SPEAKER_01 (01:02:58):
And that's something that, especially with all of
this back stuff, I can say hasbeen life-changing for me to
meet people like you, and thathave that refusal to believe
that we just stop moving when weget older, or we just stop
(01:03:18):
moving when we get injured.
And I refuse to believe that.
(01:03:41):
Because there's truly nothingthat you can't do.
And I love born superhuman, ofcourse, it's in your background,
but I I love the that corebelief of being superhuman and
our bodies being miraclesbecause it's true.
And sometimes we just need to bereminded of that.
So thank you, thank you, thankyou for this conversation.
(01:04:02):
It was an honor to have you onagain.
SPEAKER_00 (01:04:04):
Thank you.
We can do anything.
Anyone listening, put your mindto it.
Everything's possible, but themagic we seek is in the work we
avoid.
You know you should do it ifyou're willing to do it.
You will achieve things thatwill make you so proud and will
stay with you till your lastbreath.
SPEAKER_01 (01:04:25):
Thank you, Dan.
SPEAKER_00 (01:04:26):
Thank you.
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