Transcript for Ido Portal on Body Movement Dynamics, Learning/Un-learning, Fear & more

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strangers thank you for listening I’m

viewed sometimes as a very radical

person because of the choices I’ve made

in in that regard information becomes

toxic just like any other substance just

like I can kill you with water or with

oxygen and all with squats or with human

movement I can kill you with any

substance with any prescription with any

medium so why do you think information

is different like human movement as a

concept is not understood as a concept

by most people they they have other

terms to define all kinds of human

movements but they do not treat those

different actions trends disciplines

under one umbrella

[Music]

what’s up guys you are listening to the

human experience and this is our episode

with mr. yo portal if you have not heard

about yo portal yet you’re going to love

this episode this was in my top 10

episodes of all time I don’t say that

lightly a hero has just this awareness

of movement that I absolutely loved

loved loved so I’m sure that you will

enjoy this episode thank you so much for

listening

[Music]

the human experience is in session my

guest for today’s mr. IDO portal Ito

it’s a pleasure sir welcome to hxp thank

you very much for having me here so your

profile has exploded and you’re becoming

more and more famous I guess it to say

can you just give us an idea of who you

are for the people that don’t know who

you are yet please I’m a guy who is

obsessed with the movement a movement as

a concept movement of the human body and

movement of other things and just a

eternally curious and try to unfold and

unpack it and share the temporary

discoveries with the the people around

me yeah I love that how does a person

get into becoming a movement specialist

I mean you started with capoeira at a

very young age right not that young I

started around 15 with capoeira and

before that the Chinese traditional

martial arts it’s a question I asked

myself many times as well as I realized

my passion lies within movement how do

you learn and study more about it and it

was all kind of scattered and and it

still is in many ways scattered pieces

of information from a variety of fields

each field using different terminology

and different hierarchies and different

systems and it took me a few decades to

start to understand how little I

understand and that’s that’s what I’ve

been doing how do we understand the

dynamics of a human body how do we

understand movement and our relationship

to gravity

I think we understand it very well

actually but maybe not on a conscious

level but our communication with gravity

is really masterful if you look at the

any person moving around moving about

you can see that incredible a mastery of

aligning the center of mass with the

line of gravity starts in the first few

years of our lives and by the time we

are 10 years of age even before that we

are really quite proficient at it if we

want to refine certain relationships

whether it’s with gravity or other

forces around us and we can shed

awareness on it through and all kinds of

practices and like somatic practices for

example or within a specialized field

there’s some discipline athletics or a

martial arts or dance and they kind of

enhance our capabilities and more

specifically but the general public is

masterful in its a connection with

gravity in many ways even though people

are not moving very well in comparison

with traditional cultures or with the

elite athletes and they still can

perform some incredible feats in day to

day lives just living their lives

that’s fascinating you called it a

communication with gravity that we said

it is a constant communication yeah it’s

a dialogue with gravity can you explain

a little bit further what do you mean by

a communication with gravity how are you

communicating with the gravity you are

constantly refining your your position

your relationship with the gravity line

it is not static although most people

they don’t feel anymore the very refined

movements that occur as we speak it’s

occurring to you to me and we are a sack

of liquid suspended by these

contractions and relaxation and we are

constantly falling and in regaining our

balance and falling and regaining our

balance and this whole thing is

occurring on this ya big rock spinning

around and there there is other forces

also operating on it’s not just gravity

like Coriolis effect in other forces and

we are often not sensing them very well

just like the fish cannot see the water

as the popular analogy he goes and then

when we need to refine that connection

we need to kind of disrupt this

unconscious proficiency we kind of stop

the whole process and sometimes they

really disrupt some basic functions in

order to refine and then we have to put

the whole thing together and go back

into this unconscious blissful awareness

and proficiency

I love the way that you talk about this

and the words that use to explain what

we’re doing as we move and our

communication with gravity as you say so

you’re obsessed with this movement

principle this idea of that we are

moving constantly you studied capoeira

and then you set off to find teachers

find people who could show you more

right yeah yeah I was always looking for

teachers even within capoeira or martial

arts I was always valued experienced the

collective knowledge in and also the

emotional connection to a teacher this

is something very dear and very close to

me hmm okay so who is someone that you

found that was one of the most

interesting someone that occurs to you

immediately without thinking I have a

lot of big influences and my first

influenced by far is my mother who is

still very influential on me and is one

of my teachers and I’ve had also the

honor and the pleasure to teach her some

things as well later on and then my

first martial arts teacher who davanon

who for many many years was a major

figure of inspiration and influenced me

as a young kid and later my first cup

with a teacher Paolo Kalima another big

influence and then my second cup of a

teacher who is like a very very

influential figure on me and Donna

Valley mastery Donna Vavi and all of

them are yeah big figures that have

taught me and on and on and I can keep

going

I’ve learned so much from so many people

something I’ve seen you say is you know

you gain inspiration from small children

and watching children move and I saw the

an interview that you did and I saw it

on the weekend and I remember going and

visiting my nephew he’s like 2 or 3

years old and after I saw you speak

about that I was watching him and his

movement and he’s he’s he’s so active

he’s always running around and jumping

and playing and I noticed his parents

tend to tell him to stop doing that and

we get told not to move in certain ways

as we grow older is this something that

you find accurate yeah yeah hundred

percent we try to control all kinds of

factors and the risk and we’ve designed

our lives around the concept of staying

alive

and it be it has become very easy in

many ways and part of it was to stop all

kinds of moving parts moving parts that

can create problems in the system and in

the scenario of a family and very often

the moving part is the child that that’s

where the Machine can can produce some

problems and so often you hear the

fatigue and calcified parents kind of

instruct you know perfectly intuitive

and mobile warm capable body from moving

and just from lack of education of

course and these are people who view

their child is the most important thing

to them but they’re just not not always

aware how important it is to move to

move a lot as a child and of course

later on is well learned it’s a major

problem so you know what can we do as

adults to start to move more with our

bodies and communicate better with with

gravity

not sure why you put so much focus on

that connection with gravity as the

connection with gravity is maybe

romantic for some people I don’t view it

the connection to gravity is a major

source of movement problems okay okay

but very similar to breath teachers

teachers who teach breathing and these

days I don’t view it as it’s actually a

good starting point for the process and

my father was we will become 70 this

year he never learned how to breathe

from anyone you went through his life

very capable and he’s still operating

very well actively moving around he

never received instruction on how to

breathe nor how to communicate with

gravity right but there are definitely

other concepts that are very important

for us I usually start people on some

very very basic

folding and unfolding of the human body

and this is a I think is a major issue

people simply do not move in a full

range of motion and their daily life are

spent around some in-between position

which is mostly sitting these days

sitting standing and lying down these

are the three positions that most people

spend their life in I start people with

some squatting just them not squatting

for reps and for strength training but

just kind of folding the body down and

resting in it deep knee bend as many

traditional cultures am are using as a

resting position as often as a working

position and then another thing that I

do is I like to start people with

hanging hanging from a suspension point

and that house them to use gravity as

that aligning force to open the

structure since our daily lives are

spent below eye level somewhere in front

of you and slightly below people don’t

really use their arms overhead

and that creates a host of problems from

you know shoulder problems and spine

issues etc etc so these two things are

something that they recommend people

would start with hanging just relaxed

hanging from a bar spending some time

there and then squatting in a resting

position some people cannot even start

with that and they need some regressions

but that’s in and made kind of a main

direction of development hmm okay so you

know just for anyone who’s curious and

and listening to us now how long should

a person spend hanging if they’re

beginning they’re starting out but I

found very efficient would be to take a

project and usually a period of the

months thirty days and take one of those

things and kind of really drill it and

then in terms of hanging I recommend

people to hang a total of seven minutes

a day for 30 days and that seven minutes

is divided into many many small sections

throughout the day of maybe 30 seconds

45 seconds or a minute and it can be

even a partial hang we’re still the feet

are lightly touching the floor or

supporting some weight it can be from

rings or from a bar or from any

suspension point even hanging putting

your hands above your door and just kind

of relaxing down just just like a cat

stretches and just getting into the

habit of passing through this position

and of course I recommend them to get an

anchor point a suspension point

available to them so some of my students

install it in their office or their

house and when it’s there and you pass

by it it’s much easier to start to apply

the squat is easier usually for people

they can spend a little bit more time

with it and that reccommend usually and

30 minutes a day for 30 days and that is

done through sections of a minute 2 3 up

to 5 minutes at a time and you do it

while speaking on the phone while

waiting for the tram or in front of the

TV at night or just throughout the day

just kind of fold

the structure when you start it’s a

little bit hard but after a week usually

most people get into it then the

benefits just take over and then it’s

easy to continue and benefits are just

immense I’ve received without

exaggeration thousands of thank-you

letters thousands and thousands it’s

like the two challenges combined they

had more than 30,000 people participate

from around the world and it’s nothing

new it’s nothing that I invented it was

just something that I brought to the

awareness of the public once more

repackaged and brought it again into the

trend somehow but I yeah I needed to do

a lot of tricks a lot of backflips in

order to get people’s attention to do

those simple tasks okay you’ve worked

with many different students from many

different cultures and and I know that

you travel quite often you do any of

these movements sort of workshops where

you invite people to come and and train

with you is there a problem that you see

most often with the students that you

teach struggling with yeah I think there

is a major problem it’s not so so much

of a physical problem um but it’s a more

of a conceptual problem like human

movement as a concept is not understood

as a concept by most people they they

have other terms to define all kinds of

human movements but they do not treat

those different actions trends

disciplines under one umbrella that’s a

major problem where things that you do

with your body dynamically or otherwise

because there is no other thing we are

where temporal beings will we live in

time so even a static position is

actually extremely dynamic anything that

you do falls under this umbrella it can

be sitting now talking to you and my

spine is moving around

my shoulders are setting and resetting

I’m breathing I’m swallowing I’m

creating sound by pushing air through

vocal cords

I am blinking and all of this is

movement and movement is also the yoga

class that you took yesterday and

movement is also fighting and in a

movement is swimming and movement is

anything really and and that is a

concept that’s the most major problem

that it’s still not perceived that way

and hence people have a hard time to

make connections cross connections to

study it to embody it and to be and

that’s that’s why we are moving so

poorly and on the inside and on the

outside and because movement is the only

state of being there is nothing else in

this reality as we know it it is a

moving one and then we are suffering

that’s another component of our

suffering and maybe one of the most

major ones

so I’ve seen you say that you know we

suffer from we have too much information

we’re always like being bombarded with

social media or on our computers or on

our phones how do you see this

translating into movement if meaning if

if someone is holding their phone

looking at their phone all day how can

we sort of unlearn this habit that we’ve

picked up

that’s a that’s a very powerful question

and it’s a very it’s a very good one and

it’s something that I’ve been tossing

and turning in my head for many many

many years I’m viewed sometimes as a

very radical person because of the

choices I’ve made in in that regard I

truly believe it is not anymore about

acquisition of information and the trend

to acquire more information is misguided

and hence I put my faith into other

mediums of operation a concept that I

use a lot is a bullshit detector a

certain ability to discern pieces of

information and also more importantly

the ability to understand where you

cannot perform this action alone you’re

not knowledgeable enough to acquire

knowledge so all you acquire is

information and this only leads to

further confusion you are polluting

yourself information becomes toxic just

like any other substance just like I can

kill you with water or with oxygen and

all with squats or with human movement I

can kill you with any substance with any

prescription with any medium so why do

you think information is different our

explosion of free information available

information and of course we like to

talk about Internet and this explosion

etc this creates a completely different

needs in terms of how to be and how to

become the person that you wish to

become

part of my focus has been to to be very

brave and strong in saying no to more

information in not buying another book

before I finish all the unread book on

my bookshelf not to take another

workshop from another Fed from another

person and not to open my mind at times

because the mind just like a parachute

when opened too much will also not work

there is a certain balance to strike and

that doesn’t happen just from acquiring

information that requires action a lot

more action that requires a bullshit

detector that requires to discern

information and wisdom nice joke I heard

recently from a friend a John Kavanagh

is a known figure in the world of MMA is

an information is knowing that tomato is

a fruit

wisdom is not putting it in a fruit

salad I like it as a joke inand I said

but I think it’s not so much of a joke

but actually this is this is the state

of many people that they make a fruit

salad with a tomato inside because their

focus has been that this is a fruit it’s

just a piece of information that further

confused them hmm

so this is a few thoughts about the

process and there is so much to deny

there is so much to limit and to say no

to these words that are often only are

portrayed in a negative way actually are

extremely positive as well and they can

produce a lot of positive trends in in

our lives and this is where I find the

need to bring back some of those ways of

conducting oneself and of course the the

simpletons the oversimplify errs will

take this and would make it black and

white and would or would use the word

but Mike

the bad people I hope I am I make sense

for the intelligent crowd that can

understand the how this is so much

needed in these days and of course black

and white in the right quantities in the

right way

yeah for sure I love that so much I’m

gonna jump around a little bit just

because I feel like the philosophy is as

important as the actual practical

understanding of actually doing it and

learning about the movement in ways we

can we can move you talk about becoming

obsessed with what you’re doing you talk

about upgrading your passion to

obsession

how does a person convert you know this

sort of obsession into a passion when

they’re learning about movement and

ended in a discipline I can’t say I’m a

good person to answer that question and

I don’t like to to speak when I’m not

feeling very confident about subjects

and the reason is that I’ve never had

the need to convert my passion to

obsession it simply was there that state

this is something that just kind of

emanates from my my DNA from my skin is

what it says this endless curiosity this

a unquenchable thirst for understanding

the things that I’m I love and

passionate about but one thing that I

can I can provide is sometimes I see

people holding back

I see people that are passionate about

something they realize that also balance

is important and it’s and it’s so much

it’s so true and to strike that balance

and and they’re kind of trying to strike

the balance a little bit too early and I

like very much a book off skis and point

of view on it and find some things that

you love and let it kill you but

definitely I think a very important

thing that sometimes I see is a lot

people are being educated and being

advised and to hold back yeah to be

balanced tell and and and there is a lot

in balance and it’s very important thing

but I think without getting out of

balance at times to be in balance all

the time is can be very problematic you

know I I want to talk about this idea of

play and incorporating playfulness into

the things that we do every day and this

is something that you advocate a lot you

talk about playfulness and and becoming

more playful how can we become more

playful with the things that we we do

yeah we need we need to understand it as

a concept and then we need to take that

concept extremely seriously which is a

nice nice little paradox because our

life depends on it we need to play as if

our life depend on it that’s a that’s a

nice phrase for me Frank forensic

another one is to never leave the

playground this is something that needs

to be understood this is something that

needs to be highlighted we need to play

and we will play with shell play then we

are the homo Luden’s we are the plain

human that’s the state of who we are and

it’s interlaced into our evolution from

a lot before human existence and Homo

sapiens all animals play you can even

look at it on a subatomic level the

particles play and they are moving in in

a playful manner who are you to deny

that to stop that who are us to kill

play in a setting like prison or in a

setting like work or in a setting like

family or in a setting like military

this is something that should be

actually embraced and play is the way

that we get strong plays the way that we

develop our survival skills play is the

way that we developed all skills that’s

a a very primary state of humans

evolving

it is not the only thing the reason is

we have been transmitting knowledge

we’ve been passing on pieces of

information and that is also in the core

of who we are we are collecting

information and we’re passing it from

father to son and those techniques and

ways and systems and habits are

extremely powerful and they are the

other side and together with play and

you get the complete picture I believe

in the technical aspects and I believe

in acquisition of skills by using

knowledge of our teachers and their

teachers etc but on the other hand I

believe in the need to create your own

amalgam and the need to develop your own

self knowledge and and that is done

through primary through experience and

play produces that experience everything

you say is like poetic man I really love

everything you’re saying I’ve seen you

do this movement exercise where you’re

balancing a tennis ball on your fingers

seems like such a simple idea just to

hold a little ball on your fingers but

you know it’s also very complex like

after you’ve been doing it for more than

five minutes or just a few minutes so I

mean this integration of using something

so simple like broom stick and let it

fall and then catching it how do you

come up with these different ideas I

mean it’s so simple but so complicated

as well

sometimes it’s some people look at those

drills and tests and skills and they

view them as ingenious and is it’s just

so far from it there is really nothing

new Under the Sun a lot of these drills

and skills have been used in cultures in

martial arts in indents in in theater in

physical theater in all kinds of a

atletic sand team sports for a long time

we’ve been collecting this knowledge and

what I did is I just shamelessly just

took from anyone and everyone and then

played a lot with it myself

practically I’m a practitioner and an

abscessed practitioner and and by

playing so much with these tasks I was

able to find some nice twist to them my

personal touch to them and then share

them with people and have optimally

those who are obsessed enough and

devoted enough to develop their own

versions and and ways to it that’s the

process there are a few modes a few

principles and kind of fundamentals that

are once you understand them you

understand the nature of our

communication with each other physically

corporal communication or our

communication with objects our

communication with the floor our

communication with the physical laws

governing our existence our

communication with our ideas and I’ve

been devoting myself to research and

understand these principles and because

I developed a certain understanding of

those principles I’m able to produce

from this basic understanding infinite

amount of combinations and and tasks and

drills and skills and which I’ve been

doing for many years with my students

but I’m frankly at a point where I don’t

view there is a need of another you know

drill or skill specifically or a new

invention or

I view that as another type of wanker II

that goes on sometimes we need to go

back to often to like very very

important basics and to practice them to

really practice them and that’s

something that is also happening

sometimes I see people becoming addicted

to the variation and the change em but

they should just get a slap in the ass

and and and go do some serious practice

and that’s very similar in the field of

meditation awareness a consciousness

sometimes there is another trend earn

another way in another breathing

exercise another mantra and other stick

and people just need to sit down and do

it and and and there is a point where we

need to say just just do it you know we

talked about the way that a child is

moving do you think that there’s an

aspect of fearlessness that comes with

the child’s actions and also do you feel

that there’s a point at which adults

face the same amount of feared but they

back off you know because they’ve

learned to be afraid they’ve learned to

be constricted in their movement yes

it’s true that children experience less

fears there is always fear present fear

is is a preserving entity fear and pain

are very important input for us but it’s

definitely less inhibited by it

in the young years which completely

transforms the way that our we move and

communicate and our abilities

capabilities and also oftentimes why we

get injured stuck and Plateau but when

where everything around you warns you

what else can you become then if a

fearful a entity and that that’s our

culture where we’re constantly we live

in fear there is all these standards all

the time we’re standardizing everything

Europe incapable of Lee

in your life we’ve become a very soft

we’ve become very afraid and that of

course inhibits us and creates a lot of

problems for us what do you see

happening physiologically when someone

is showing a sign of when you’re doing a

hanging exercise and someone is afraid

what do you see happening with that

person well there is at first a focus

shifted and so instead of like sensing

what is actually occurring to you you

are now creating a narrative of what you

believe is occurring to you and that

narrative becomes your reality you’re

not open to see what is happening in

your shoulder in your back to actually

sense to shift your awareness to these

areas and see what what actually occurs

your focus is shifted not from sensing

not from being aware but for

constructing a narrative

full of fear and that later if they

allowed would become your reality that

narrative is stronger than what actually

happened and so that’s that something

very very common and it’s good that you

gave that example it’s a it’s even on a

simple level like that somebody comes in

is like have some shoulder issues and

let’s say maybe in pinch these shoulders

or is some some inflammation and then

you put him in a very soft hanging

exercise and you see that from the start

there is a certain opinion that is there

it’s like this is not good for me and

instead of sensing what is occurring

what is there it’s just blocking the

whole process altogether and of course

you can fight that and you can work with

that and you can not allow that to take

over etc that’s a major problem by the

way with a lot of our Diagnostics we

don’t realize sometimes that Diagnostics

are a surefire way to guarantee that the

the narrative starts concern

in that specific issue if some

spontaneous cancerous activity happens

in the body and you just go onto into

your life the body oftentimes disappears

removes it able to fight through it you

will never know but if you go on a

general checkup and something is there

sometimes that process alone would lead

to in some cases your death and of

course ahead yeah I don’t give a

solution here I just point at the

problem I don’t want to present it as a

black and white thing don’t get

diagnosed that’s of course it’s not

simple as that and and oftentimes you

would die without being diagnosed so

it’s not a black and white theme but

there is a lot of power to the placebo

effect and the placebo effect works

negatively not just positively

psychosomatic diseases are extremely

powerful and they kill a lot of people

all the time yeah so that’s the the root

of fear and how fear is extremely

powerful influencer on us I love that

scene and from Apocalypto from Mel

Gibson’s movie Apocalypto on fear the

scene was the in the start of the movie

they go out hunting and they meet these

people all of a sudden they make these

noise and they say who is there come

step out and these people just appear

and they just say we just want to pass

through and we are on our way and he and

they asked them where are you going and

said we we are going to find a better

future in your eyes is just full of fear

and trauma and you can see that

something happened to those people they

have left their place and they are

looking for a place where they can live

and then the scene ends and they they

exchange a gift and they pass through

and then when the tribe goes back to the

village the father tells the son don’t

tell the other people about these people

that we’ve met

and he doesn’t seem to understand and

then he says the worst thing that you

can bring into our village is fear it’s

worse than the actual incurrence

and then later on he is slaughtered in

front of his son’s eyes and he just

gives him this free one last night so

even in that moment like

he will not experience fear he would not

have it he can control just that he

cannot control what happens to him but

he can control the fact that he will not

give in to fear one of my favorite books

and from June and there is also a

beautiful quote on fear there you have

to let it pass through you and you have

to remain there and then you would look

at the path as it moved through you and

out of you and only you shall remain

only you shall remain there so it’s

something that is very close to my heart

something that I’m researching a lot I’m

am very fearful person and that’s that’s

my experience with myself and I’ve been

working very hard and I based my life in

my fears I based my life in my

difficulties not in my strengths as many

people think it is because other

practitioners in my field and in other

in many fields that I’ve been part of

like in martial arts in acrobatics I

worked as an acrobat on stage these

people are usually experiencing a little

fear compared to other people and hence

that’s why they gravitate towards this

profession where I am on the other side

the truth is that I’ve I’m experiencing

a lot of fear compared to others and

I’ve always seen it I’ve always compared

myself with other practitioners and I

based myself

in the need to not give in to that and

to pass through that and only I shall

remain and that’s something that they

said that I’m still day in and day out

working on and fighting through this

strikes such a chord within me because

something I was thinking on was you know

I am my biggest opponent and you know I

am the biggest judge of my own character

and Who I am what I’m doing and what I

found is

my own inner dialogue is so harsh worse

than anyone would ever say to me like a

you know loved one or someone who cared

someone who is trying to give me advice

you know like if I externalize this

internal voice of you know like why the

why the fuck did you do that like you

know that that is a thinking if I make a

mistake or if there’s something wrong

that I’m trying to correct like you know

I’m so hard on myself and I realize you

know the the biggest opponent that we

have is when you look in a mirror and

you see yourself that’s your biggest

opponent is yourself how do we start to

understand this better

well first you you’ve covered a lot of

road by realizing it even once in one’s

life just that realization even once and

that’s already a major milestone and

then there is a need of a constant

reminder because the dynamics are such

that you will focus elsewhere by the

needs of reality around you you’re

living your life so hence a small

reminder for a certain period of time is

needed and once you’ve done that second

stage of a consistent reminder the third

would be to change the behavior to

change the knee-jerk reaction usually it

happens already from the stage number

two by realizing something you

immediately disrupt the process so for

example I drove today with my bicycle

and somebody wanted to cut in front of

me and with a car and then dare to kind

of honk at me and and I immediately my

knee-jerk reaction was getting I got

angry but the thing is sometimes I

immediately realize oh now you’re gonna

get angry and by having that fraction of

a thought before or as I get angry it

almost immediately undoes the thing and

there is just an aftertaste of the anger

it’s very different than the anger

itself there is some sensitivity needed

to sense the difference and this is the

start of the process the start of the

change the way that we change things so

for example you fail you disappoint

yourself your knee-jerk reactions like

why the fuck did you do that but by

inserting another thought of like oh now

you are going to be disappointed in

yourself now you’re gonna be harsh on

yourself that already starts the process

but there is a need to do that again and

again and again

and there is a certain period of time

where you need to keep your focus on

that process enough days should be

accumulated with many things it’s not as

long as we think it’s sometimes one

month of playing that game but this one

month most people never go through and

hence they’re always at the mercy of

their current makeup current instinctual

and egotistical state and they find it

very hard to create changes but changes

actually rather easy to do once you

understand the mechanics of it there is

a lot of work that’s done on this object

my mother introduced me to to a lot of a

very potent strategies there she’s she

is a big believer in narrative vein

therapy and the working with this

narrative this story that we tell

ourselves and that’s exactly what your

what you’re describing is that narrative

that negative narrative that you have

and with yourself that is an ever

dynamic scene you can always change that

it’s just it takes work and it takes a

decision like I’ve had enough and I’m

gonna focus here so many questions here

and we have some some questions from

some listeners I wanted to ask you about

something that’s on your wall in your

studio in tel-aviv

it has written um isolation and then

there’s a narrow integration and then to

improvisation what does this mean it’s a

concept that I developed many years ago

a few decades ago really it was first a

very crude concept and then later on

when sharing online name became another

mode of my teaching I really kind of put

it out there and I call it the road to

mastery to mastery anything mastering

ourselves mastering everything mastering

every discipline any skill improvisation

is also synonymous with the word life

living life is improvisational capacity

we are improvising that’s the next word

that comes out of my mouth right now I

don’t know what it just erupt out and

improv

I’m actually perfectly capable machinery

as it improvises in reality that’s what

we are and hence that’s where we want to

go with pretty much everything playing

the violin

boxing growing children anything but

then there is also a need to resolve

problems change trades a harness in and

modify starter packs knee-jerk reactions

instincts reflexes absorb techniques

become techniques and applied techniques

that have been passed to us from prior

generations and that’s done through the

process of isolating these specific

moments or or tasks or techniques or

systems and then integrating them into

bigger from atoms into molecules into

bigger sections bigger sequences and

finally the whole thing should arrive

with improvisation and that’s what I try

to teach my students everything that we

do is like go through this pipeline I

always my eye is on improvisation but I

am often shifting into isolation or

integration in order to not just rely on

the act of play and you’ll get better

yeah you’ll get better but you will

never even scratch the surface of how

much you can discover it’s not about

being good or not good but it’s more

about the discovery and the complexity

if you wish to increase your complexity

you have to use also isolation and

integration and not just improvisation

and that that’s that the idea behind how

I teach and that’s a concept that I

created and share them and use with my

students but it’s also I think has been

around in many ways and understood by

many people I never heard it in this way

but I think people have been acting upon

these great teachers and for a long time

intuitively or maybe with different

works

so you mean that when you’re in the this

idea of playing then you’re you’re

taking a moment to integrate the things

that you’ve learned and not just yes I’m

playing first

I don’t always engage in play sometimes

I need to drill I need to stop isolate

the problem drill it and then go back

into the improvisation which play is one

mode of improvisation it’s not always

about improvising in a jazz concert at

as the moment and fault there comes a

moment where you go back home and you

practice the most basic notes cleaning

them up and then specific letters and n

sequences and and melodies and in order

to support your improvisation you don’t

just improvise you don’t just improvise

well you can as many try to do but I I

believe it is not going very far in

terms of complexity discovery and being

and and it has been misleading people

sometimes I see messages about you don’t

need to isolate you don’t need just be

just just improvise just play nobody

needs teachers we don’t need anything

well I think it comes from people

without skin in the game and I think it

is I think it is not a very powerful

mode of increasing one’s complexity and

I think and I know the results are very

poor in my eyes and I think that there

is not a not much accountability there

and that’s why you can make such claims

by people who are they just wanted to

release you to free you it’s because

it’s very anti totalitarian thing it’s

releasing people you don’t need anyone

just play just be so I believe in the

mode of play in the need of it in the

need to improvise but I also believe you

should step out of the flow State you

should step

out of the the playful mode in order to

improve the system it’s not just about

driving all the time sometimes you need

to put the gas in the in the car

sometimes you need to fix the car change

the tires and these are modes of our

being that are maybe they’re not as sexy

not as inspiring but extremely important

I wanted to ask you I I know you’ve been

asked this many times so I wanted to

just briefly ask you about Conor

McGregor now I know you’ve been his

movement coach since 2015 or so recently

he had the fight with Floyd Mayweather

why in your opinion did he lose why

would anyone lose to to a person who has

been perfecting their skills in a

specific discipline for their whole

lives for 35 years and you step into

that game and challenge yourself to an

impossible lane or close to impossible

task I think it’s very obvious it was a

monumental task and then and I think

Conor is a person that challenges

himself pushes himself and with full

belief in himself but there is something

to be said also for the size of the task

and and and the ability to perform it

hmm okay fair enough you know we’ve got

a couple questions from some listeners

Michael asks what activities or

exercises do you recommend to increase

general agility and speed I have a lot

of trouble with I’m a very pragmatic

person and I’m a very accurate person

it sounds very positive but it has a lot

of also negative connotations yes I

don’t want to present it as such but my

problem with such questions is that the

terms being used like agility the and

then dexterity things like that they

mean shit they these words have been

abused and and used by so many people in

so many different ways that I have no

fucking idea what the listener asking me

means and do you want to run faster and

you cause the action of moving your feet

and very quickly in between obstacles

agility or is it catching a falling cup

of coffee

and that we call agility or is it or is

it something else it’s it’s a I don’t

want to contribute to due to the

misinformation when I answer something I

answer out of a place of an

understanding and that’s very important

to me I don’t want to bullshit the

listener or to come up with some

half-assed and sir

do these do that that’s not who I am

okay I completely appreciate the honesty

there Kathy asked how do you keep your

movement fresh how do you keep learning

more as you move forward how are you

increasing your knowledge in in regards

to movement it’s very simple I I don’t

get good at anything that I do and I’m

I’m a beginner every week that’s that’s

how I acquired the skill set and that I

acquired and that’s how I continue to

acquire more I actually am very poor at

any specific skill that I can perform

maybe some people a will not realize it

like for example they would seem

do a one-arm handstand and they would

ask this is poor well compared to elite

practitioners it is poor anything that I

do is just on an okay level I have an

understanding of it I can perform it and

but then I can do many many such things

I can orient myself in all kinds of

disciplines and fields and and just be

mediocre or or or even sometimes below

or sometimes a little bit above but

never really go to excellence and by

making that choice I’m able to every

week learn new skills and acquire new

skills

I’m the jack of all trades and master of

none and but being that I’ve mastered

being the jack of all trades and that’s

the other side of the sentence where

they forgot it and when they they coined

the phrase jack of all trades is a

master of being a jack of all trades

he’s not the master of none that’s where

I put my focus on and that’s what I

enjoy I love that and I’m fully aware of

the the pros and the cons and I continue

to make that choice on a daily basis

yeah you know I’d really like to just

close with how can we bring the mind

into more integration more connectedness

with with the body this is why we have

mindfulness practices and like these

meditation classes that people are

teaching it seems we’re very

disconnected from ourselves we do all

these things and can you can you talk on

that a little bit please

I think what is valuable and what I try

to provide to many of my students

through moments that cannot be

verbalized inside that’s something that

I I do a lot with people I just put them

in in scenarios in environment where

verbalization the internal monologue

that goes on or a dialogue if you want

to call it it goes silent it has no use

because those moments are too fast or

too scary or too embodying and too

powerful to use your words and then what

comes around is sensations emotions much

more primal sets of an eternal

experience and that starts to connect us

back to our movement and and to our

experience of and this magnificent tool

a tool of mass construction is my good

friend the Rasmus Olmec and calls it the

body is not there to be understood he

says it is there to be experienced it is

there to dive into it is it’s a tool of

mass construction

it’s a weapon originally that is this

thing it’s a weapon we need to survive

and life its life life lives on life so

hence we are actually a weapon but we

are doing it and how do we destroy by

constructing ourselves by increasing in

complexity acquiring more symbols by

accumulating the invisible look that we

are ms Hofstadter recalls it

this thing is should be respected and

the way that we experience our body has

stopped as somewhat disrupted this

relationship we are going very cerebral

but that’s ending very poorly for almost

all of us we are becoming more depressed

more disconnected and equation of

information the working within your

cerebrum it doesn’t work it actually

doesn’t work people people need more

things we just like we cannot stop

eating we can’t stop moving and that’s

all something so important and then

important for me to mention is the other

side that movement is not a technology

for pure awareness movement should be

supported by an internal practice of

stillness or shall we say relative

stillness a meditative practice of sore

the reason is because it makes the

internal dialog less active and bubbles

up to the level and motions and

sensations it is actually a technology

of anti meditation not a technology of

meditation is often portrayed by people

with commercial interests like I’m gonna

do my one-arm handstand and sell my

hence the hand balancing workshops and

tell you I’m standing one arm one hand

in the future one hands in the past and

I’m here in the middle just being for

debts that’s total dishonesty about the

process of acquiring a one-armed

handstand and doing a one on handstand

because when I’m doing a one on instant

I think about the grocery list I think

about whatever and the reason that I can

perform the one-armed handstand is

because I reached such an optimization

of the process that I can actually drift

off so it’s a technology of anti

meditation the better you are at the

skill the further it moves you away from

using that skill as a tool of awareness

that’s why for thousands of thousands of

years we’ve been using the act of

sitting to meditate

the simplest the most basic position

that’s why a high percentage of all yoga

positions are geared toward external

rotation of the legs why why don’t we

see so many positions in asanas geared

towards internal rotation of the legs

because it’s it prepares you for one

asana there is only one asana that

meditation that sitting practice that

that practice of quietness and should be

instilled next to the movement practice

the movement practice which is very

convenient for me to portray it as the

ultimate and it should be supported by

no movement practice as well

well I you know it’s such a pleasure to

to listen to you speak about these

things and i truly appreciate you making

the time for this interview and to

spread this information as knowledge

where can people find her work where can

people get to your website is there like

a YouTube channel that you guys have

started or where are you gonna be next

for your next workshop just put my name

on Google they these days it’s

ridiculous sometimes people ask you for

but it’s just a door portal I do Pio are

tal you’ll find it I’m sure no need to

mention any websites or whatever and if

you are truly interested in what I have

to offer I’m sure you have all that you

need to find us and communicate with us

and and if we can help and assist in the

journey it would be a great pleasure

love it man you know hang tight for me

and let me just do this close I just

wanna talk to you for a couple minutes

guys you’ve been listening to the human

experience my name is Xavier katana my

guest

IDO portal just a fascinating interview

thank you guys so much for listening

I’ve got a flight to catch I’m gonna get

out of here but we will see you next

week