Brian (0s):
Coming up on the GET, LEAN, Eat, Clean, Podcast.
JJ (3s):
But in terms of daily habits, something really powerful that will involve the body that I think your audience will probably enjoy because it will also hit the exercise piece as well as the motion piece is dancing, putting on a piece, putting on some music for five to 10 minutes every morning. Now ten's a little bit long, but you don't need 10. Five would be enough. But milk it. Like if you want to get some exercise in, use 10. Find a playlist that you can put five or 10 songs on it and just jam like dance. Move around, close your curtains. If you don't think you're a good dancer and you're embarrassed, like just do whatever you wanna do, but just something you've, that gets you excited. I don't care what kind of music it is. Either something that makes you feel alive, makes you wanna move your body and everybody has that kind of music.
JJ (47s):
So if you start your day with a solo dance party, you'll probably have a good day.
Brian (54s):
Hello and welcome to the Get Lean Eat Clean podcast. I'm Brian Gryn and I'm here to give you actionable tips to get your body back to what it once was, five, 10, even 15 years ago. Each week I'll give you an in depth interview with a health expert from around the world to cut through the fluff and get you long term sustainable results. This week I interviewed bestselling author, podcast host, and empowerment specialist JJ Zas. JJ helps people identify sabotaging patterns and transmute struggle into joy. We discussed what is wrong with affirmations, along with how to get uncomfortable and grow emotionally. the importance of discovering your core wounds, how to manifest what you want, the best way to start your day.
Brian (1m 37s):
And much, much more. Really enjoyed my interview with JJ. I know you will too. Thanks so much for listening and enjoy the show, All. right. Welcome to the GETLEAN E Clean podcast. My name is Brian Gryn and I have JJ Zas on Welcome to the show.
JJ (1m 52s):
Hi Brian. Thanks for having me.
Brian (1m 54s):
Thanks for coming on. All the way from Ojai, California.
JJ (1m 58s):
Yes, for anyone that knows where that is, it's like the best kept secret. So I don't actually, if you don't know, don't look it up. It's not Ohio people think, oh, Ohio. No, no Ojai. Anyway, but it's fine if you've watched the movie Easy A with Emma Stone, it is filmed here in Ojai.
Brian (2m 15s):
I've heard great things. I have a good friend that moved there. How long have you been there?
JJ (2m 20s):
Well, we bought a house and moved three years ago, but I've been coming here for 24 years on a regular basis. Spend many holidays, birthdays, new year's, week long, month long. I've done retreats up here. So while I hadn't lived here full-time until three years ago, I've been here a lot.
Brian (2m 42s):
And you are an empowerment, let me say this again. You are an empowerment strategist.
JJ (2m 49s):
Yes.
Brian (2m 50s):
The first one I've ever had on
JJ (2m 52s):
Anne, might be the last. I'm kidding. I have, I have actually trained a whole bunch of trainers, so I have a lot of coaches that work with me. So who knows, you may have one of them them on in the future also. Yeah. But yeah, I, I actually, I was a personal trainer for many years before I rebranded because my kind of personal training included the mental and the emotional and the spiritual along with the physical. So I couldn't just stay there. It was too much of a box for me.
Brian (3m 17s):
Yeah, I like that you sort of have gone this route. I mean, I think that, like I do personal training and I've done it for a long time, but like the mental side and the emotional side. So even with, you know, men, women, doesn't matter is such a big component and it sort of gets overlooked.
JJ (3m 34s):
Oh yeah. I mean I, most of my clients were men and they thought I was cute. Like, oh, 'cause I wanna teach 'em about law of attraction. Or I'd ask them, I mean my kind of cute was like yelling at them about the fact that their back pain was rage. No, it's repressed anger. It's not physical. It's not physical. It's not physical or you know, you have to, you're an emotional eater. So, we have to deal with that. We've been, you learn how to process your emotions, otherwise you just sabotage all the work we do by emotionally eating. I don't know why this isn't why you don't want to do this. Oh, I already have a therapist. I'm like, yeah, we should not do a very good job. So, so if you wanna work on this, let's, but yeah, they loved me. But, it was one of those, like, it took eight years to get one person to look at their back pain differently. I'm like, okay, if you keep thinking it's physical, why didn't you listen to me after he finally got it and the back pain went
Brian (4m 19s):
Away? Does it, does it, does it work to yell at your clients?
JJ (4m 22s):
It does. When they're older men that think you're funny. Yeah. But I don't usually yell at someone I don't have a good relationship with. But I, I'm a yeller sometimes out of drama. 'cause it's entertaining. Not no more like frustration, you know, 'cause it's only so, and it's, again, they thought it was cute. They thought it's funny. I wouldn't yell at somebody who'd be offended by it. So, you know, and we're talking about long-term relationship here, you know, eight, 10 years.
Brian (4m 47s):
And so how long have you been doing this And? what brought you into this type of healing?
JJ (4m 55s):
The fact that the body was my like way in. But the body is a messenger. The body tells you things. The body is your in is your intuition. It's your subconscious and it's going to talk to you and you have to listen to it. So you can come in and wanna change things, but if you're not in a good relationship with your body, and my first book Fit to Love, which became the podcast, was really about the relationship people have with their bodies in the gym that I really didn't like. Like when I, I had a manager back in 2000 and must have been eight, eight or nine. And, and he said, you need to write a book. And I said, I'd been featured on mag in magazines, newspapers name best personal trainer in Los Angeles for from Elite Traveler Magazine.
JJ (5m 36s):
Like I had all the accolades. He like, you need to write a book. And I was like, well, what's my story? I wasn't, I'm not the person who lost a hundred pounds and then now wants to help everybody lose a hundred pounds. So, and that's kind of like what you expect in the fitness industry. And I wasn't necessarily like a bodybuilder per se, and I wasn't competing. And so like, what's my story? And I had to figure that out. And my story was really self-care from the place of self-love, not self-hate. And using your self-care routine to attract love into your life. But, it has to be from you first. And, and so that's kind of where it started. And like being able to walk into the gym and feel like you can feel it, it's palpable. You can tell who's on the treadmill, literally in their head saying, I hate this, I hate this, I hate this, I hate this, I hate this. And they're just there because if they don't lose weight, like they're desperate to change their body because they want someone else to love them and they wanna love them.
JJ (6m 22s):
But they're doing it as far as I'm concerned, the wrong way. You can't start with, you hate yourself and be, and if you lose a few pounds, then you're gonna maybe consider liking yourself. It doesn't work that way. Yeah.
Brian (6m 32s):
'cause that's what brings people sort of into the gym or maybe to hire a trainer in the first place, right? They wanna get a certain outcome or they wanna lose weight. But you're saying that they're doing it sort of backwards.
JJ (6m 45s):
Shame will never motivate you long term. So you have to have a better reason. And if it isn't self-love, which is what I was hoping people would choose, you know, I was 21 harping about joint integrity. Like who cares about joint integrity? I did because I saw the writing on the wall. If you do walking lunges and really stupid exercises and, and dips for your, like, you're gonna wreck your joints. So when you get to the place where now you can't exercise because you've literally created an injury, you're going to, your, all your progress goes right out the window. Like care about your joints or your brake pads. And unlike your car, you can't change them. I mean, you can try and there's injections and all the things, but like you get one set, like treat them well and, and pay attention to your biomechanics.
JJ (7m 32s):
So that way, you know, don't be so ready to just jump off to take tires and lift them off, you know, and whatever. All crazy people get bored, So, they look for like the next greatest exercise thing that's going on. Science is still science and you're biomechanics is still biomechanics. I don't care if you're swinging a chair around your head or you know, rolling a tire down the street. Like if you don't understand the science, you're not gonna understand why you're getting results or why you're getting injured. So that science doesn't change. you know, maybe the application of the forest does 'cause people get bored and they're onto the next fitness craze. And, and I also found that a lot of people in the fitness industry, and I don't know you well enough to, so this is not a judgment against you, but a lot of people in the fitness industry are control freaks.
JJ (8m 15s):
So it's that whole, as long as I am super disciplined forever, I can white knuckle things. And again in that, it's, it's still, it's fear-based, it's shame-based, it's fear-based. And it just wasn't an industry that I enjoyed because of those reasons. And, and honestly that is why people most of the time, you know, most of us don't wanna feel uncomfortable ever So we don't until, you know, we don't search things out that we, that might be hard for us physically, emotionally, or spiritually until we're pushed to. And that's why I think a lot of people manifest all kinds of diseases and chronic illnesses because it forces them, the body was talking, you ignored it, you're not paying attention to it. So, and this isn't, and I'm not trying to shame anybody for that either.
JJ (8m 57s):
I'm just saying that the body's gonna keep talking until it gets louder and louder and so loud. It's gonna flatten you on your back until you, it knows you're listening. So, but I think that's part of our responsibility in how we, you know, look at our lives really. I mean, it's a lot of attraction. So how I got into this work was just that, it's sort of, I can't, I was a glorified babysitter for a little while, even though all my clients got, their joints were better, their flexibility was better, all the things were better and they weren't really growing past that. And I was, and and I had said to one of my clients, you know, you guys only use 25% of my gifts. I'm kind of bored.
JJ (9m 37s):
Like, you don't want anything else. I'm learning and I'm learning it and trying it on myself. I'm not just spouting things and reading a book and telling you to do something I'm not doing. So again, it was really more the holistic and then just being able to, you know, I mean, how many women, it's mostly women, but how many women do you, you know, they come, they want help. You give them the help and then they don't do the help for whatever, 10 reasons a Sunday or they start and they sabotage and there's a reason for that. There's a psychological, there's a lot of tools that I have that can address those things. But some, when they come in, sometimes, not always, but they come in through the physical personal training route, they, they compartmentalize and say, well, I don't wanna do that here. Well, I have a therapist. Okay, right. But this is where you're getting triggered. This is where you're, this is where you're wanting to push through And.
JJ (10m 19s):
what I've ended up doing over the last, well six years, but mostly the last two years, is I've taken the personal training, sort of, I'm gonna hold the space for you to grow and push yourself beyond your comfort zone and put it in the realm of mental, emotional, and spiritual. Because most people won't do that without, they're not gonna get uncomfortable willingly, So. they need a trainer, if you will, to help push them and keep expanding. But on purpose, very specifically pur, you know, choose things for the person. It's not random, it's not everyone just go bungee jump. It's not like that. But it's a specialized and personalized way of healing some of your wounds.
Brian (10m 58s):
And I hear you talk about core wounds. Why, what does this maybe touch a little bit about this and why people wanna know about them?
JJ (11m 7s):
Well, if anyone has ever wanted to understand why they do anything that they do and why they keep repeating the patterns that they keep repeating, why they're in the job, they're in, the relationship they're in, the money that they have, it all goes back to your core wounds. It's all the core wounds from the time you're born until seven. And of course there are other energies like inherited emotional DNA and and generational things that get passed down energetically. I'm not addressing those right now. I'm addressing you and your physical body in your current life, And what you can do about it. And from zero to seven, we do not have a consciousness in our brain. Our brains develop consciousness between seven and eight. So your brain just records like it's facts. And if you are prying in the other room and your parents don't come immediately, your brain records, I was abandoned, I'm ignored, I'm not important.
JJ (11m 55s):
And we, and this is what our, this is like our subconscious being created. And so these are the beliefs that, that we live by, but we don't know what they are. And so when you're in therapy or when you're trying to problem solve a current situation and you're just looking at the current situation, even if you see that there's a pattern that you keep doing it until we get to the root of what the belief is, you're, you're, you're trying to change just the circumstances to feel temporarily better, but we're actually never getting to the root of it
Brian (12m 26s):
And getting into the root of it. Like I know, I'm sure this could take time for some people and but how, how does an individual like get to the root of the things that are affecting them today?
JJ (12m 39s):
Yeah, well it's, it's like therapy and coaching training. It's like doing a program with this in mind. Yeah. So Brad, so having, it's the same way. You, you, you meet with someone and say what are your physical goals? And I'm sure that the physical list are not, is not just exercise. I'm sure there's something about mindfulness, meditation, stress reduction, emotion, possibly hormones, sleep, water, right? All the things that I see that you've covered on your show. So it's not just the exercise piece. There's probably a fa a multifaceted pronged approach to how the body is gonna respond. Well it's the same thing with the emotional side. And so that physical plan that you make, somebody might take three months, six months, a year.
JJ (13m 23s):
It's a lifestyle. It's, you know, it's continuing to, when someone plateaus, like I had a client years ago as a trainer, she's now, she's been with me now the whole time like 13 years into the emotional stuff. But you know, when I first started working with her and she was definitely motivated in a different way by not a ne by a po, by a negative stimulus, not a positive stimulus, but you know, it took her with only working out twice a week. She lost a hundred pounds in three years. And, and using the fit principle frequency, intensity, time and type, looking at okay, you only have two days a week, how are we gonna maximize what you do? And every time you plateau, we change the program and make it a little bit harder so that you keep progressing. So over three years between food and exercise, now, you know, you might have started out doing the recumbent bike And, now you're doing the elliptical trainer or you're, you know, doing, doing races and you're kind of walk jogging or whatever like that continues to get results.
JJ (14m 13s):
And that becomes a lifestyle also to maintain that hopefully. But with the emotional piece, it's no different in that we start with what's the current problem and then how do we kind of go back and collect some data, understand what the core wounds are, and then make a plan based on those core wounds and based on your own habits and patterns to create new neural pathways. I don't wanna say undo 'cause you can't undo it, but what you can do is create new neural pathways. You can create new beliefs and you can take that really hot circuit of I'm not enough or I've been abandoned. And you can start to decrease its intensity. You can start shortening the circuit and how long it takes for you to run through it in your brain.
JJ (14m 54s):
You can reduce the amount of, of intensity you feel when you get triggered to the point where you're not triggered any longer and you can see that you're now different. I have a, I have a saying that came out of watching a lot of therapists and having therapists as clients of mine, personal training clients and podcast clients. And I would see a lot of like, oh, if you aren't, again, this is therapy, not personal training. If you get, you're an over eater, you're an emotional eater, so don't go to the buffet, don't go to the party or eat before you come and don't go over to the table. It was all about replacing habits but never dealing with the issue. So it was, it was avoiding in many, in many ways.
JJ (15m 35s):
And it was really frustrating to watch because I'm like, you're not healing anything. You're just avoiding you. You're losing weight 'cause you're avoiding the temptation. Well, what happens when you can't control life any longer? And boom, that temptation's right in front of you. So to me, healing is when you're different in the same exact situation. That's how you know you're making progress because you don't have to change circumstances to feel differently. You are different.
Brian (15m 56s):
Hmm. And do you see like a common theme among people like you, you brought up just like how people can heal emotionally or like, because they, maybe they were abandoned or you know, whatever it is. Like do you see like a common theme with a lot of people that come to see you to sort of, you know, become better or, or you know, I don't know.
JJ (16m 20s):
Well, there's only, there's, there's not, I mean, I think I have a list of maybe 20 something words for core wounds. So there's not like an unlimited amount of core wound words. Like I, I have a framework that I, I use from Imago therapy, which is created by Harville Hendrix and Helen mc, Kelly Hunt. And I love Harville to death and they've both been on my show many times and I love Imago therapy. I think it's the best relationship therapy out there. So if you're gonna go to therapy, choose Imago therapy.
Brian (16m 44s):
I've never heard of that, but Now I have,
JJ (16m 47s):
Yeah, I am a GO Imago. It means in the image of, so the main principle of Imago is that you choose your partners to heal the wounds of your past. And again, that's a subconscious thing. It's a subconscious program that says, my, I was abandoned and you remind me of my dad, you have similar traits. Again, none of this is conscious. And my brain says, oh, I can get from you what I didn't get from him. And then I go, that's, that's how somewhat, that's how some attraction happens. It's this familiarity and, and this hopefulness and of course in every relationship we're all in the honeymoon page phase for at least the first, you know, year to two or three years where you're doing all the things and everybody's dopamine and serotonin is like really, really high because you're all in your best behavior and everything is right.
JJ (17m 29s):
And then, and then you start to settle into your life and the stuff comes up to the surface And now it's the same stuff or similar stuff to your parents. And then you end up saying, well they made a mistake or you need to change. And then we don't know how to deal with it. So anyway, Mago therapy is an awesome application and I use all parts of Imago therapy in the work that I do. Not in a therapeutic sense, in a, well, yes, in a therapeutic sense, but in a coaching sense and not necessarily with couples. Even though I've worked with couples, I believe that one person has the power to change their relationship because it's about changing you first. Because when you're the common denominator and you make shifts in you, everyone else around you and everything else around you will shift So. We start with what you're responsible for. How can you start to change?
JJ (18m 10s):
We don't force anybody else to have to do something different so that you feel better. We don't wanna be victims. We wanna be, you know, the creative of our own reality. So So, we use these, I use that core wound exercise as the base, but I've expanded upon it. I know I've deepened that work. I mean they have, you can buy an Imago workbook that is called Getting the Love That You Want is the book. There's many books, but that's the main book, getting the Love that you want. And there's a workbook that goes along with it so people can do it on their own. And you can even do this core wound exercise on your own, but it's not going to tell you what I would tell you because I have a different approach to using it. It's one piece in a, in a many step process in Imago, I've extracted that piece and said this is its own thing.
JJ (18m 52s):
And from there I've actually created something called a core wound map, which I would think is sort of like taking someone's all their information, all their stats, all their measurements, all their allergies and hormones and sleep and all the things. And then making them a plan. So the map is, the map is sort of the plan. It's the, it's the data collection, it's the analysis, it's the reflection back to how you participate in it. And then there's a plan involved, a plan of how am I going to heal the wound of abandonment? And I'll just give you an example. And there aren't, so there's, there're patterns, but everybody, you know, everyone has some version of abandoned or devalued or ignored or suppressed or controlled or made to feel guilty or disapproved of.
JJ (19m 35s):
Like those are really common ones. And if one of your core wounds is abandoned after we see how you react, like how your brain, 'cause sometimes a trigger happens so fast you, you're not conscious of it. All you know is you're now in a feeling and in a reaction. 'cause it can happen super fast. And once we can deconstruct it and start to create some space to observe it, we can also ask ourselves, well how do you abandon yourself? How do you keep that core wound alive? And again, putting the onus back on yourself when you can look at how you continue that belief. Now we can start asking of how to change it. Now we can say, well what do I need to do to stretch out of this?
JJ (20m 15s):
To send a signatory brain that says I am valuable. How would I value myself in a, in a real way that my body and my brain would acknowledge and, and looking at, you know, again, stretching, being able and constantly stretching. Just like an exercise, like stretch. you know, you go to failure and then you get stronger, then you go, then you move up and weight and then you go to failure again. You get strong. Same thing, same concept,
Brian (20m 36s):
But for the mind,
JJ (20m 37s):
But for the mind and the heart
Brian (20m 41s):
Law of attraction. I've always been a fan of this stuff. I mean, I know some people don't, you know, they don't wanna either believe it or they just don't want to go down that road. But I've always been, I guess, attracted to law of attraction is that at the end I've, I've read books on it and I mean, I like to do affirmations and do some meditation and things. What, what are some, well I guess what are some actionable things that people can maybe do on their own just to start, maybe just to bring, you know, sort of a better vibe into their life or attract things that, that, that, that serve them in, in, in a certain way.
JJ (21m 22s):
Well, I got a ton. So let me think about what one thing someone could do. I'll just make a couple statements to say law of attraction is quantum physics. So it is science. There is nothing spiritual actually about it. It is physics because everyone understands that in an old school radio dial or even a digital radio or a radio minus a serious radio, but serious radio applies to, you wanna listen to 1 0 2 0.6, you can't be on 96.3. It's plain and simple. It's a frequency. It's how you get your TV to, to show you the program that you want.
JJ (22m 3s):
'cause you're on a signal, you're on a frequency that's picking up that signal. And then the TV is what's broadcasting the signal. So it's, you know, and So, we are broadcasting a signal all the time. We're a tv. But what's your signal broadcasting. So it ha it's working all the time. Whether you wanna deal with it or not, you're always attracting, you just may not like what you're attracting, but you are responsible for it. Not in a, because you've chosen it. I'm not blaming or shaming or saying you're wrong or anything like that. It's, it's default. You are attracting whatever you believe and if you don't know what you believe, just pay attention to what shows up in your life and you're gonna start to see what you believe. So if you wanna shift that, you wanna change that, you have to start with exercising, gonna pull that right back in again, exercising what it is you do believe that is positive for you.
JJ (22m 49s):
So if someone believes, 'cause sometimes you are not gonna get someone to change a belief that they're somehow, like there's a lot of fear around, or a commitment to like, oh, I can't believe something different because I, I've believed this all my life. And if I don't believe that, then I'm gonna feel unsafe in the world. All. right? So let's start with something more simple. The where people go wrong is they start with something huge. Like I'm gonna make $10 million next month or whatever. And you're subconscious like says, no, you don't believe that. So you're not going to because you actually don't believe that. So start with something that you do believe. What could you stretch into believing that I'm gonna receive money as a gift in the mail, I'm gonna have unexpected income, I'm looking forward to receive. Okay, could you believe that? Great. Then milk that say that every day.
JJ (23m 30s):
Get excited about that. Increase your frequency in terms of your emotional emotionality around that and start to say that. But there, and I'm actually running and I know you're all gonna miss it 'cause I'm sure this podcast is not gonna air tomorrow, but I am starting a 14 day manifestation challenge on Monday. Mm. And I run them, I run them my, like the first one was in February So, we we're in June actually in July. I don't know when the next one will be. Maybe there'll be one in September or November, I don't know. But anyway, you can go to the same page and see and sign up for the next one. They're free. They're 14 days. And I This
Brian (24m 8s):
Is on your website?
JJ (24m 9s):
No, it's actually, well, yes, if you go under like there's a, at the bar at the top, it's like there's limited like things
Brian (24m 16s):
That happen. Oh yeah, okay, yeah, I see.
JJ (24m 18s):
Yeah, it's 14. So the, the pretty link is JJ f.com/fourteen, day one four DY. And the next challenge will be listed there after this one is over, or at least you can sign up and then you'll be notified when the next one is. Or you can just listen to my podcast and you'll be, and you'll notice I have a lot of podcasts. So you ask what people can do since they listen to podcasts, spare purpose and energy. If you go way back to the beginning, you'll, or just type in law of attraction. I've got a lot of shows specifically on law of attraction that will help you make sense of things. But in terms of daily habits, something really powerful that will involve the body that I think your audience will probably enjoy because it will also hit the exercise piece as well as the motion piece is dancing, putting on a piece, putting on some music for five to 10 minutes every morning.
JJ (25m 6s):
Now ten's a little bit long, but you don't need 10, five would be enough. But milk it. Like if you want to get some exercise in, use 10, find a playlist that you can put five or 10 songs on it and just jam like dance, move around, close your curtains if you don't think you're a good dancer and you're embarrassed, like just do whatever you wanna do. But just something you've, that gets you excited. I don't care what kind of music it is. Either something that makes you feel alive, makes you wanna move your body. And everybody has that kind of music. So if you start your day with a solo dance party, you'll probably have a good day. Now affirmations can work, but if you're out of alignment and you're saying affirmations, then they'll just activate the opposite of what you're asking for.
JJ (25m 45s):
So affirmations get kind of sticky in that. I don't wanna help someone to say, people love to give me money when you just have to pay a bunch of bills and you're like, people have to give me like, it's not gonna work. 'cause again, it's not about the words, it's about the energy. So the other thing that I always tell people to do is an appreciation journal. I am not a fan of the word gratitude.
Brian (26m 7s):
Oh,
JJ (26m 8s):
At all. And I'll tell you why. Because vibrationally, my experience has been that many people who say I'm grateful energetically are, are dragging along the negative story in that sentence. Even if they don't tell you. 'cause here's what goes on in the brain. I'm grateful for this because it used to be like this. And so gratitude has a heaviness to it. For me. If you say I, if I, if I say I appreciate, well think about it. Can you say, I'm grateful for something without immediately thinking of why, what bad thing made you grateful for the good thing?
Brian (26m 43s):
Well I, if I'm grateful for my health, I mean, I don't necessarily think of the opposite, but I, I could see how maybe people could,
JJ (26m 53s):
I think a lot of people shame themselves into being grateful because they don't want the bad thing. I, there's a lot of heavy energy around grateful for me. Not because I've used it, but because I hear people say, well I used to be a drug addict, And, now I'm, I'm grateful that I'm sober. I'm like, okay, that feels like crap. That whole statement right there is not
Brian (27m 13s):
So you like appreciate, is that what you like
JJ (27m 15s):
Better appreciate It's cleaner. There's usually no attachment. What do you appreciate? There's no story because we're not used to saying because gratitude has been used as I'm grateful for because, because I used to do this, I'm grateful for this. And again, there I find there's a lot of attachment vibrationally. So appreciation just feels cleaner. So I make an appreciation journal and every night you, before you go to bed, and you can do this in the morning too if you'd like to, but I'd prefer you dance 'cause I think that will physically get you like, get all the juices flowing and get your brain set in the right place and get, and the music is so powerful to sort of embed some frequencies into you that day and really set you on a higher frequency. So music, music, music and dancing the two together is a winning combination.
JJ (27m 56s):
But at night, before you go to bed, rather than just going to bed, because most of us think, oh, oh my God, what did I do to like, what didn't work today? What I gotta do tomorrow? Like you have this running list of things that either you didn't do, you didn't accomplish or you need to do tomorrow. Okay? That is not gonna help you sleep or vibrate high. So after you're done with that conversation, or maybe consider writing it out so you can stop spinning it in your head. Do an appreciation journal. We're on one side of the page. I'll show you mine. You write at the top. I appreciate, oh, I did some serious writing there. I don't normally write, I normally, okay, I'll give you two versions. Okay, so this one I wrote out, but this one I did bullet points.
JJ (28m 36s):
Okay, so I'm fine with, I, I prefer the bullet points actually. 'cause again, I think that's cleaner. But you just say, I appreciate you don't have to write. I appreciate like if I did it, I did keep writing, I appreciate it, I appreciate, but you can write at the top I appreciate. And then just bullet point, all things you appreciate. And the point of this is to, because things in front of you, you have all things available to you. You could decide, I'm going to worry today. And I promise with the, with the point of view of worry, you will find things to worry about. You can get up and say, I am going to be lucky today. And with that point of view, in that determination you will find things that you'll make you feel lucky. You can get up and say, I'm gonna feel happy today.
JJ (29m 18s):
Same thing. You're gonna attract and align with the things you're searching for. I'm searching for things that make me happy. That's all it is. You're just focusing. So I'd rather people to focus on feeling good before they go to bed and all things that they did appreciate. Because the more you appreciate, the more we'll show up for you to appreciate.
Brian (29m 36s):
Yeah, I like that. What about playing an instrument?
JJ (29m 40s):
Great. Yeah. If it, if it brings up positive feelings, I'm not saying avoid negative feelings and maybe you do need to play an instrument in order to cry, to let out the gas and to create some space for positivity, that would be great. But you know, don't be addicted to sort of the victim spiral of like, in case you play a song and every time you play you cry like then no, no, no. Then put that down for right now. Like that's not, let's visit that at another time. Find positive things or play the instrument that makes you feel alive.
Brian (30m 9s):
Got it. Yeah, no, I I I like that. I, I'll I'll change my 'cause I do use grateful a lot. I'll, I'll go to appreciate,
JJ (30m 15s):
Just try it, just try it for a month and see how you feel.
Brian (30m 18s):
Okay. And then what is the invisible fitness formula?
JJ (30m 25s):
I wrote a book in 2017. It was an ode to my time as a personal trainer. I wanted to, I was ready to move on from that conversation and, and I had been training at that point, I dunno, 25 years. And anyway, so it had been a while and I wanted to take everything I had learned and sort of, and I thought of all the people I've worked with, if I had to extract like what's the best advice I could give anybody that was that. So it's the invisible fitness formula. Five secrets to release weight and then body shame. And I was married at the time, although we were, it was not a good time. And not even a year later I was separated, but I was with, I had manifested my current partner, my forever partner, my soon to be forever partner.
JJ (31m 12s):
And, but I knew that at the time. And, and so I attracted and one of the greatest things about Wawa attraction, which is why I am, and I will claim my first event in 2018, I had people from all over the world come to my event and, and someone said, I don't know what they said or something. And I said, look, I'm not, I'm not an expert in law of attraction. They went, yes, you're, I was like, okay, All, right, I'll claim it. And I claim it now because I, because one of the most challenging things to do in law of attraction is to live in a frequency of a reality that you don't see. It's when you can do that, that you get what you're vibrating about. It's not see it and believe
Brian (31m 47s):
It. Say that. Can you say that again?
JJ (31m 48s):
Sure. It's living in a frequency, living in a reality that you can't see. So if I want something better than I have, I have to be able to vibrate at a place where that thing exists. So if I look at my life and the thing doesn't exist in my life, then I have to vibrate at a level I'm not currently living at. To do that, you can't look at what is and react from your current situation. You have to visualize and activate from a higher place that you aren't, that there's no proof of yet. That's like, that's the hardest part of law of attraction, which is why most people can't do it because they're looking for physical evidence first. And that's the reverse of how it works. The reverse is you, you have to be in the frequency to even see it.
JJ (32m 31s):
You can't see it if you're not in it. The analogy I give is like, you have a tall building and let's make each floor a frequency level. And if I'm on the first floor, I can't see what's happening on the second floor or third or fourth or fifth or sixth. I can only see what's happening there. So the frequency will dictate what your experience is in order to have a new experience, you have to be able to sustain a frequency that you currently don't see in order to bring whatever you want into reality. So I got very good at that in my marriage and I was a very happy person. People didn't even know what was going on because I didn't, I'm the creator of mine in reality. I don't need someone else to perform in a way to make me happy.
JJ (33m 11s):
I don't need anybody else or anything else to make me happy. I don't understand how to do that. And again, but that is deciding how I wanna feel, how I wanna be, and then anchoring that in. Now of course I'm human. So of course, you know, life happens and you fall that off and you're back into the reality with your person or whatever. But that's sort of what happens. And so I, I learned how to do that very, very well. So in this book that I wrote in 2017 originally I did talk about love attraction a little bit, but you know, then I had started my podcast in 2014 we're coming on 10 years. I kept thinking, man, I'd shame about I don't have an audio book. And then I thought, well you know what? I wanna take it away from that publisher too.
JJ (33m 53s):
I'd like to bring the book back. So this January I rereleased the second edition of the Invisible Fitness Formula. So this is my galley copy. So this is this, this line is normally not here, let me just do this. This is the second edition and it now has an audiobook. And actually as I went through it, reading it and, and doing it for the audiobook, it was, you know, there wasn't too much. I changed, I changed a bunch of things, but there wasn't anything huge. And then of course I was able to promote the podcast and say, you know, UpToDate information is always being shared on the podcast or on the video on YouTube. So, so I wrote that book to start with at least to like give o pay homage to and respect to my journey as a personal trainer. Yes, I still use all of that information today, but I don't work with people who aren't willing to do the emotional work.
JJ (34m 38s):
I don't do just physical things anymore.
Brian (34m 40s):
Yeah. And so getting on that higher frequency, you know, let's just use an example 'cause I'm a golfer, right? So what are good ways to get on a higher frequency? 'cause what you see a lot with people is they h like they hover around that same, I don't know if you're familiar with golf that much, but like everyone has that golf handicap, right? Where they're like, at this, it's almost similar to like a everyone, someone had a body set weight sort of thing, right? They always come back to that. And you see that a lot. Like let's say someone's a three handicap and they've probably been a three, been a three handicap for a long time and they have a tough time breaking through to get to that next level. W like how can people sort of get on a higher frequency and, and get to that next level?
JJ (35m 26s):
You could pretend it's a different story. So you could embody and pretend that you're somebody who doesn't have that handicapped. So, and I, it would be better if you have a person, person in mind, a very specific person. And just like when athletes are training, like they've, you know, I dunno if you've seen The Secret, I know it's in the secret, but it's in more than just a secret where they set up, you know, you're like on a EKG or whatever advice, you know, got electrodes all over your head. And, and the same muscles will be fired when someone's thinking about running the same race that they're gonna physically run. So it's no different. So now we just have to get there with you before you, you hit the ball. So close your eyes and, and or maybe and practice this, possibly not when you're on the golf course, but I think it's important to practice it on the golf course too while you're in it.
JJ (36m 10s):
But protect, protect, pretend being us somebody different. Know their swing, know their, know their movements, know their, their attitude, sense into what they feel and then embody them and let your, your story go and be pretend to be them hitting that ball and see what happens. But you have to believe it. You have to really pretend that you're either an actor or that you've embodied that you've, you've been the, the body snatcher and you've taken, taken your spirit into that body and you've taken it over. You have to really believe it in that moment as you are striking the ball. If you have doubt that kicks you out of it, then it won't work. You have to get into that mindset, into that frequency to have a different reality in terms of the brain and how the body reacts.
Brian (36m 54s):
So imagine you're almost someone that's, that is in that place that you wanna be and that could be in golf or anything else and that you've almost like changed into that person and you just try to imagine that day in, day out.
JJ (37m 9s):
Yeah, I you could, well I have a, well I have a lot of tools, so I'm thinking of my awakened your dream life course, but it's based on whole brain living from Jo Joe Bolty Taylor. There's four parts of the brain. You could learn who your characters are. You could just pretend to be, you could not pretend you could, you could lean into one of your four characters a little bit more than the character that is probably having you fear failing again. Right. It's, it's, it's not, you don't have to become somebody different. You can just be the version of you that is better. But you have to understand that that person exists. You just haven't seen them yet.
Brian (37m 45s):
Yeah, because I, I I bring stuff back to golf because you see it all the time. Someone is playing the round of their life and they're, they got out a little bit outta their comfort zone. They're not used to being in this sort of space and you sort of see them like maybe unconsciously self-sabotage their round with like a few holes left or they all end up going back to what they normally would shoot because you know, what, you know, breaking through was something that was unfamiliar and, and so yeah, I think like this is an issue with golf and with probably a lot of athletes. I mean you could probably bring that for any sport.
JJ (38m 22s):
Oh, absolutely. Well, it depends on where your mind is. If you are thinking about if you are reevaluating or you're self-conscious in that moment you will self-sabotage. Because that's the other part of law of attraction that people don't understand is that you only attract what you think you deserve. So your core wounds come up in your golf because you say, well who am I to be an excellent golfer? Who am I to to get better than this in, in any sport? But that's where understanding it's an upper limit and how to get past that, which is to shut that part of the brain down for a second, to lean into a different reality that you're not seeing, but that you can get on board with. Even if it's just like a guided visualization.
JJ (39m 2s):
It's like do a hypnosis in that moment of becoming that person of however it needs to make sense for you. You could pretend that you are, you know, that's why people love Halloween. Ex-husband hated Halloween, but, but I'm so glad Doug likes Halloween. I mean, we don't love, we're not crazy Halloween people, but people like Halloween because they get to put on a different character. They get to put on a costume which gives them permission to be different, to allow parts of their personality out that they never dare do. Right? And so it's the same thing. So wear a p put something on your body, wear something, a glove, a a tie, a put something in your pocket, some secret thing that makes you feel like a powerful superhero hero.
JJ (39m 42s):
Like that's all it takes. But you have to lean into that and not second guess it. Yeah,
Brian (39m 50s):
No, I'm gonna use some of this. It's like, this is like my session right here.
JJ (39m 55s):
Well, you'll have to let me know if it works.
Brian (39m 57s):
I will, I will. Excellent. Well what would, what else would you say, like as far as, gosh, I mean you see it a lot with people and I think this can go to anything is like people lose weight then they put it back on, they, they're on this rollercoaster, like this yo-yo dieting thing and they struggle to sort of get to where they want to go. And we've probably touched on it already in one way or the other, but how can they, you know, you talk about in the Invisible Fitness formula, five secrets to release weight and, and body shame. Like, can you give us like, can you foreshadow some of those secrets? And, you know, they put 'em already.
JJ (40m 37s):
Well, my approach to, It's, it's, it's, there's gonna be a core wound conversation that needs to happen and also an upper limit conversation because there's, again, because I had clients like this, but I didn't have the tools back then. I don't, I didn't know what I know now to see that they would only allow themselves to lose X amount of weight for some people, especially women, if they're carrying a lot of weight, sometimes it's, it's sexual abuse that has happened. And So, they feel a certain layer of protection. There's certain comfort in knowing that maybe they're a little bit less attractive than they would be. Normally they don't like all the attention they're trying to hide. But see, some of the people don't know that that's subconscious. Like that's So.
JJ (41m 17s):
they may really, really want to. But what's really underneath it is this fear of what happens if I beco if people pay attention to me more or if they look at me more, am I a target? Am I unsafe? So it could be that they're feeling unsafe. That's sometimes what happens. Other times what happens is, I have a friend actually who's been on this road like as long as I've known her, she is not very disciplined, but she doesn't have a, her left brain has not been developed as well. She doesn't put time and energy into her left brain 'cause she uses it for her work. And then the minute she's done with work, she shuts it down because she's so right brained. But she has no discipline when it comes to her own self-care. And, but one of her core wounds is abandonment.
JJ (41m 58s):
So when you reflect back, well how are you abandoning yourself? It's in not committing to having discipline, however you need to do that. And for some people it is gonna be hiring somebody. I mean, that's why I end up creating the rewire program because I realized that in this re if you really understand core wounds and, and you've been in therapy for a while and you haven't really seen the results that you've wanted to see and you're really kinda the same person, or you've done all the things, you've quit, you've gotten divorced, you've moved away. But guess what, all the same situations are back 'cause you took you with you. Like if you don't understand how to change what's inside of you, most of it is going to be uncomfortable. Our brains are trying to protect us and keep us the same. And anything that threatens that, even if it's not completely illogical, you could think, well, if I lose 20 pounds of people pay 10, pay attention to me more.
JJ (42m 45s):
I could die. Someone could rape me and then kill me. Like literally. And it's not, and if I would reflect that back, you'd be like, that's ridiculous. I don't believe that. But I promise you that somewhere in your subconscious there is something like that. I had an ex-boyfriend, I had moved to California in 2000, this is probably around 2004. And I was noticing my behavior with him. I, he told me this story about how he had gotten rid of all of his ex, like his favorite ex-girlfriend's stuff and replaced it with me. Okay, yeah, no pressure. So then I noticed myself starting to, like, he wrote poetry. So I wrote poetry. I'd buy him these gif and stuffed animals and frame our pictures and frame my poetry. And I was just like, and I, I took a step back once and I looked at myself and I thought, what are you doing?
JJ (43m 30s):
Why are you acting like this? It looks like JJ. You're afraid he is gonna forget you? And my conscious self would've said, that's ridiculous. He got rid of his ex-girlfriend stuff for me. He's not gonna forget me yet. I did this hoy program, this binaural beat program way back then. And I laid down on my bed and I didn't even know why I was doing it. I was just probably, I don't know, for abundance reasons. I had started my business four years prior to that. So I'm laying in bed, I'm during the day and I have the earbuds in my ears or earphones at the time, the big honk and earphones, right? And I'm listening to a cd, so it's in a disc man. And I'm laying there listening to it and I, and it's just tones. It's just sounds. But what it is is it's touching different parts of the brain and then behind it is like some rain.
JJ (44m 11s):
So it's calming and soothing. And it wasn't trying to deal with this particular issue, but I remember thinking like the, like, you know how when you go to the old Kmart, I don't know who does this anymore or, or places in New York, hey, or that big, you know, like the, the nas like the, the Nasdaq, it goes across the, the board, right? So in my brain, yeah. Like, so my brain, the question said, will he forget you? And then something in that moment, as it went across my in my brain, dropped down, touched me. And I came up crying and I was like, and I was like, oh my God, I do believe that. Now my conscious brain didn't know I believed that, but my subconscious like, yes, you do believe that you are hanging on for dear life, right? Now I was like, oh my god. So again, there's the subconscious holds the truth and our conscious mind doesn't have all the answers quite yet.
JJ (44m 58s):
And So, we have to be able to tap in and gather that information. Sometimes you can see it. I was, it was far enough to recognize my own behavior. I, I could observe myself and say, what are you doing? You're acting like weird. And I can see that and then address it. So when it comes to, you know, the reasons why people keep sabotaging themselves and is, is a, a you don't deserve, you don't believe you deserve more and it's uncomfortable to receive it. You don't know how to receive it. 'cause you never have. There could be something about you staying safe and not being safe if you go to someplace you haven't been for a while. And I, I do think it needs a deeper dive. I don't think it's as simple as that. You're undisciplined, that you are not smart enough to know when you know all those kinds of things.
JJ (45m 43s):
I think it, it needs a deeper dive.
Brian (45m 52s):
Is there anything else that we've missed that that, what would you say that, how about this, I like this question. What, what's one thing you've changed your mind on in the past 10, 15 years?
JJ (46m 4s):
Me? Yeah. That divorce I've changed my mind on. I was never someone who ever thought in a million fricking years I would ever get divorced. And I fought tooth and nail blood, sweat and tears, started my podcast and saved my marriage. And I had to get to the place where at one point I had to value me over keeping myself married. I had to recognize that yes, I can handle a lot and I can withstand a lot and I can do a lot and I can work a lot and I can learn a lot and I can try a lot. And at some point, while some while I've helped other people save their marriages by only working with one person, I, it wasn't supposed to be saved.
JJ (46m 47s):
And I had to learn how to forgive myself for taking responsibility for something that I only shared 50% responsibility for at the end of the day. So that absolutely wrecked me. Whole bunch of shame on that one. And honestly, but the shame was because it was public. The shame was because I have a podcast, I've written books and I teach a law of attraction and I manifested my husband in three weeks. I was like, okay, well people are gonna think a law of attraction's not right, because I couldn't ke I couldn't save that marriage and I doubt I'm gonna attract my next marriage in three weeks. No, it was two hours. That's when the universe was on. My universe is always on your side. But I literally, once I let go of control and thought, okay, well the only hope left is for you to move out.
JJ (47m 30s):
'cause maybe if you leave the situation and you can have a different point of view and perspective, give it some time, then we will cut back together and it'll be what I want, And what you want and it'll be better and we can work together. And the second I let go and said, okay, I'm gonna let go and I'm gonna let you leave and we'll see what happens. Two hours later, my client also was separated from his wife. His wife walked out and didn't know that was, you know, didn't know that that was gonna turn into a thing. And then of course that turned into a thing. And so that was it. And all the things that I was journaling about and using a law of attraction to help me with all of the realities I was living in my mind, in my heart and my emotions that I wasn't living in the physical reality came to life.
JJ (48m 15s):
I manifested the universe like, okay, here. I'm like, well wait a minute, hold on. I didn't want a new person. you know, it's like you can't get what you want from this person and getting what you want and being in this frequency is kind of the point. It's really not about trying to extract it from one person. It's about having it and this person will, is fits all of the things you've been man, you've been, you've been vibrating about. And I was like, oh, but I had shame about that. I'm like, I don't wanna get divorced anyway, but I, you know, so that was definitely something I, I've changed my mind on my, my parents have been together, you know, one marriage, they, they got engaged on their third date, you know, I had that to live with.
Brian (48m 52s):
Well, you do see, I mean, you do see people that typically, I mean, I know a lot of like what, 50% of people get divorced, but a, like, a lot of times if a, if individual grows up with a sort of a divorced parents, it tends, there's probably, I don't know what it is, but tends to happen to them. Not all the time,
JJ (49m 10s):
Obviously. They expect it, well, they expect it in a way. Like, or they're not, they're, they don't expect it, but it's okay. It's an option. For me, it wasn't even an option, right? In my mind was never an option until it had to be the option because the, the gap had widened so much and I was doing so much. I was, I was willing to take on anything, any learning, any teaching, any therapy, any whatever to uncover the problems. And it But, it grew me into what I'm doing now. Like I understand how it all worked, but I also didn't understand that someone literally would say, I do and I wanna be together forever. And then when there's a problem, not wanna fix it.
JJ (49m 51s):
I had to learn the hard way that not everyone is me, and not everyone is going to be that committed, because when it gets hard, people run. I do very hard things in my career with, with people that I work with. I push people, which is why I only work with people to listen to my show. Someone can't, if someone's listening to this, like I will, you say, okay, I'm ready for next rewire. No, you're not. Like you. I'd be tasking somebody with at least 10 more podcasts to be really sure. Because when you, when you step up that much, now there are other layers where it's not quite that in your face, but literally, I'm here to push you. I'm here to grow you just like a personal trainer, but for your psyche and for your, you know, and that's gonna challenge you. So you have to be ready for the journey and you have to trust me.
Brian (50m 32s):
Yeah. Well, this was great. I think we touched on a lot, right? JJ, would you agree? Yes,
JJ (50m 40s):
Yes. And, and it's been fun to kind of all also really, hopefully have it appreciated that I kept linking it back to the, the fitness stuff or to the personal training stuff. Because it's really, it's really to me, like what it is. Like I, I, when I created the rewire, I was like, oh, I think I'm gonna have to become the personal trainer again in the rewire by, instead of pushing people physically, I'm not pushing them emotionally, but that's kind of the job and Okay, that makes sense to me. So hopefully that made sense to people how I, you know, put that, because your muscle activation is the same as your brain activation. You can create neural pathways by doing different exercises for both the brain and the body. And
Brian (51m 18s):
Well, well, and you make a few points about, you know, you made a point about dancing and having fun and enjoying. I think that finding an activity or a workout that is fun, I think you can get better results just from the fact that you're enjoying it. I know not everyone enjoys working out. I enjoy it, but I, you know, I, I don't know why, but I do. So I think that's important. Yeah, having fun, finding something that's enjoyable. 'cause then you'll stick with it and stay consistent. And then you talk about like, sort of getting at that higher vibration, and I think surrounding yourself with the right people is really important. I'm sure this is something that, that comes up. A lot of people are surrounding themselves with people who are bringing them down or in this lower vibration, that it's that much more difficult to sort of break through or like, you know, break through barriers for themselves.
JJ (52m 10s):
Yeah. Stress is no joke. When stress elevates your cortisol, forget trying to lose weight. You're gonna gain weight even if you're starving yourself. So, you know, people can get rid of some stress. And get rid of stress is really just either changing your environment or processing your emotions and not letting things bother you anymore. And, you know, in just in changing the mindset, I've had a client who just changed her relationship with her body, and she's been working out and eating and frustrated that she wasn't getting any results. And all of a sudden when she switched the way she was treating her body, she's easily lost weight now. Because again, the body doesn't, it's like you're in parasympathetic, the body can heal itself, but when you're stressed, you're not, and the body blocks any changes. And that's just basic normal stress stuff.
JJ (52m 50s):
But what's stress, stress is emotion, guys. Everyone's like, oh, stress, I'm stressed. Especially men, I'm stressed. Yeah. Well that's emotion. Can we deal with emotions? Oh, no, no. I don't wanna deal with my emotions. Okay. All. right. So what I'm hearing is you're stressed, you know, it's emotional, but you don't wanna deal with your emotions. So you're just gonna, you're gonna okay to st stay with the stress. So yes, I think all of it connects, and when you get into the right frequency around it, the body will do, it'll help you. It'll do what you're asking it to do.
Brian (53m 16s):
Yeah. Well, this was great. Where's the best place for people to find you? Your website?
JJ (53m 21s):
Yep. JJ zas.com. JJ, F-L-I-Z-A-N-E s.com. Everything is there, all podcasts. I've got a couple free talks, like classes that you can take. One is how emotions affect healing and disease. Anyone dealing with a chronic condition or disease or pain, that might be something to look at. And again, you'll see all kinds of things. And if you wanna look at the podcasts, those are there too.
Brian (53m 46s):
And the name of your podcast is Nutrition and Alternative Medicine.
JJ (53m 50s):
That's one of them. Okay. I have, I have many Spirit, spirit Purpose, and I, I have like 16, so let's just go with spirit, purpose and energy. But you can go to Health and Wealth, nutrition, alternative Medicine, fit to Love
Brian (54m 4s):
Those. Oh my God, those,
JJ (54m 6s):
Yeah.
Brian (54m 7s):
Wow. 16.
JJ (54m 9s):
Yeah.
Brian (54m 10s):
I can't even keep one going. I'm kidding. Oh wow. This is great. Well, thank you for coming on the podcast and we will definitely put Links in the show notes for people to find you. And yeah, have a great rest of the day.
JJ (54m 25s):
Thanks, Brian. Thanks so much.
Brian (54m 28s):
Thanks for listening to the Get, Lean Eat Clean Podcast. I understand there are millions of other podcasts out there, and you've chosen to listen to mine and I appreciate that. Check out the show notes at Brian Gryn dot com for everything that was mentioned, In, this episode. Feel free to subscribe to the podcast and share it with a friend or family member that's looking to get their body back to what it once was. Thanks again, and have a great day.
