Ep. 32 – Learning About Holistic Fitness & The Warrior Tradition – with Greg Amundson
Today’s guest, Greg Amundson, is a fitness expert, masterful storyteller and warrior with an extremely diverse set of experiences: college athlete, sheriff’s deputy, DEA agent, Army officer, author, and CrossFit affiliate. His focus is currently on speaking, writing, CrossFit and promoting Warrior Yoga.
“Mentors come in all different shapes and forms, so there’s an opportunity for God to bring people into our life on a regular basis. These seemingly fleeting and temporary relationships all serve a purpose in our growth, in our evolution, in our awareness, in our self-discovery.”
One of the most influential relationships Greg has is with Mark Divine, Founder and CEO of SEALFIT and Founder of Warrior Yoga. One of the key gifts that Mark gave Greg was awareness of breath. Mindful breathing is the basis of most forms of meditation, and the story of how Greg found his awareness of breath is quite exciting. It involves hanging from a cargo net in a steel compound, and even more about their powerful mentor-mentee relationship is explored in the upcoming book Firebreather Fitness.
Firebreather Fitness is a profound book in that it is the first to fully integrate holistic fitness, which is simultaneously developing the mind, the body and the spirit. In the early days of CrossFit, Firebreather became a term of endearment based around physical accomplishment. Then Greg realized that there was more to a physical fitness program than physicality.
“There’s way more to a physical fitness program than physicality. There’s an opportunity to develop character, emotional resilience, discipline and spiritual awareness, and now we define a Firebreather as one who faces the trials and tribulations of great physical opposition with an indomitable spirit.”
A huge part of Greg and Mark’s lives are their morning rituals, and they are both passionate about instilling in people the warrior quality of the morning ritual. Every morning, Greg:
- Wakes up at four and becomes aware of the transition between the waking state and the sleeping state
- Remains silent
- Goes into the kitchen to pour a glass of water
- Introduces the feeling of gratitude as he drinks the water of immense gratitude
- Goes into the living room and goes through a series of breathing exercises that are designed to still the mind
- Meditates to achieve a transcendent state and
- Transitions to the warrior tradition of First Words, which is the practice of bringing awareness to the first offering of our spoken word
The First Word process creates a rippling effect from the beginning of our day throughout the rest of the day. Through breathing exercises and meditation you create a still body of water in your mind, and “the spoken word is like a pebble that you drop into stillness to create an even rippling effect touching the shore of our life on every corner.”
“Words are real.”
Greg is the last guest in our Small Town series, and he proves that you don’t need to be from a big town to have a big impact. God in Me is available now; Firebreather Fitness releases January 5th, 2017; and you can connect with Greg at www.GregoryAmundson.com.
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Resources:
- Connect with Greg: Website | Facebook
- Crossfit Amundson
- Warrior Yoga
- God in Me by Greg Amundson
- Firebreather Fitness by Greg Amundson and T.J. Murphy (releases Jan. 5, 2017)
- SEALFIT
- Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
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