Luigi PIssani  00:00

The people that are like the extreme like power lifting, you know, at that point, the the ones that I've come across that that I really sort of appreciate, will talk about, you know how their approach to getting under the bar is the same with the lightest weight as the with the heaviest weight. So they understand, right that it's really about that beginning step into the end, it's not like, I just want to hit that marker, because I just want to get to that. And let's say so the people that are going into these extreme bouts of exercises of exercise, just ask themselves a question like, Yo, so how much is your body changed over the years? Are you are you actually like, more efficient, you know, now versus then? Because you would think that you're you are, you know, if you've put 10 years into something, and you're still struggling just as much after 10 years, and you were in the beginning, then clearly, it's had a negative effect on you. And then and then that's where we have the discussion about recovery. How are the maximizing their recovery?

Bridget Moroney  01:00

Welcome to the performance arts podcast, where the conversations are about health, nutrition and mindset for anyone who considers themselves an athlete from the most elite competitors to those who are simply seeking to improve their athletic performance. We hope the knowledge shared on this show will empower you to reach your physical potential. Thank you so much for tuning in. Now for today's episode. Hey, everyone. Welcome to today's show. I'm your host, Bridget Moroney. And today my guest is Luigi Pissani. Luigi is the founder and president of fe:al feeling everything and actively living a one of a kind lifestyle practice built for the 21st century stress ridden and physically disconnected individual. Luigi began his career in health as an exercise physiologist turned strength and conditioning coach after graduating with a Master's from the University of Miami marrying his innate creativity to his academic and professional background. He developed this practice as a path to authentic embodiment in the body, mind and spirit known as the art of inner peace fe:al is a bridge between many different approaches in wellness that promotes not only strengthen mobility, but also self expression, presence and stress and pain relief. Luigi believes the human body is a canvas for beautiful works of art and relishes in guiding individuals in their own masterpieces. How's it going today, Luigi, so good to see you.

Luigi PIssani  02:25

So good to see you too. Mama, how you doing? Thank you for having me.

Bridget Moroney  02:28

Thank you so much for being here. This is a conversation that I've been looking forward to for quite a while. And so I'm glad that we've we finally got a chance to connect with each other. And yeah, so I guess before we get started, I wanted to give you a chance. I know I did a little bit of just like a brief bio or introduction for the episode with you, but I wanted to give you an opportunity if there was anything else you want to tell about your story, your background, how you got to where you are now with with your company fe:al

Luigi PIssani  02:59

Yeah, for sure. I'd say the only thing you don't want to really add is just that like everybody else. Life for me on the physical side, you know of the body has continued to be a learning process. So you can set aside the academic stuff, you can set aside whatever other certifications and anything that people can formally study and just understand that as long as we can back to where we've been headed, you know, on that path of what our body is able to do. Right? That will always sort of just always be which is more important you know than any degree that you can take or any book that you can read your book right your your body's book will always be the most important one. So yeah, thank you for adding that intro on my bio but yeah, just leaving out that message to people that we continue sort of learning and writing our own story on that end so

Bridget Moroney  03:52

yeah, I love that that perspective there because I you know, I've had this conversation with so many other people coaches athletes, trainers, whoever people like you said in that that physical Well we all live in a physical world but who specialize in the industry in this in the in the specialties the specialties specialization, specialization. But yeah, it's still early here. I need to I need a little bit more coffee and water, but just yeah, like people in general, we tend to get really roped into the the academic side, like you said, the learning the theory and everything else like that versus just experiencing, like you said, the book of our own bodies there which is you know, again, kind of like what you focus on

Luigi PIssani  04:38

because at the end of the day, it's like the world that we do live in the gyms that we go into, right the the events that we participate in Spartan Races, you know, marathons, whatever, none of those are occurring in the lab. None of those are controlled, you know, none of those have a different group, you know, that's preparing a different way than you are and so really the only thing that matters is how Do you end up approaching that? Right? How you end up preparing, you know, your tissues, right for that event, or just that that routine, right? How you end up preparing, you know, the mindset of it, you know, as well, which I'm glad is something that we're going to be able to touch on leading up into this talk is, is basically what else can people get out of, you know, their bodies, right, or that our time that they're giving themselves, because that's the thing that I've always been indirectly more focused on. Like, I didn't really quite noticed that I was noticing other things about the body until years into the private coaching, again, the academic stuff, just like working with, you know, people in general, I think it was as a result of seeing people privately noticing the different body types, but also the different physical gifts that people had. Some people can just pick up the visual cues, right? Or the verbal cues better than others, right a little bit different. Some people read body language a little bit better, some people just show it up a different way. So people just had zero interest. And you can tell that maybe picking up the dumbbells just wasn't right for their bodies, maybe literally just going out into the park and just taking a walk. Nothing wrong with that, please go and live that. Because on the stress side, that was going to make a lot more sense to them.

Bridget Moroney  06:21

I like that perspective. And just again, like kind of what we said, initially, with just getting tied up in the academic things and stuff like that, because I think a lot of people, especially when they're new to coaching, I guess specifically referencing the different cues like when you become a personal trainer, or when you become a crossfit coach strength and conditioning coach, whatever type of coach you are, you learn certain mechanics of the body. And I completely agree with this as it as a former teacher, we all have different ways of processing information and like you're pointing out, it's not just intellectually, it's, it's in our bodies, our bodies, our intellectual organisms, as well. A lot of people think about just the intellect and knowledge coming from the mind, but research and a lot of people like yourself, and they all point out just to the inherent wisdom that comes from the body. And so yeah, like you said, like so many people come to the training session, the gym, whatever come into the into each day with just different ways of of operating. And I guess my point is about being a coach and a trainer like that's, I think, where the art of coaching comes from, and having that openness and creativity and just kind of that understanding of like, okay, this person is picking up on this cue or this person, a dumbbell, does it make sense for them right now or at all?

Luigi PIssani  07:49

Yeah, and to keep adding to that, it's like, like, you're right, so that the coach, right, as much as the client, or the student, or the athlete, whatever it is. But there definitely needs to be some sort of rapport that's established between the two, right? Because you, you can approach really anything in life with one size fits all. So you can't show up, yelling and screaming and demanding so many things, right from a person. And just, you know, leave it to like, you know what, that person is just lazy. You know, like, we don't, we don't even want to like deal with them. Because again, you have to understand that it's from birth, and from that moment of crawling on the floor, every single physical thing that the child is exposed to dictates how they're going to be performing in their teens, or adolescent stage, and then later on, so if you're looking at private clientele, the question I used to always sort of ask and still do is like, hey, so when was the last time you were like, legitimately involved in your body for for like a disciplined amount of time? And for some people, it's like, well, you know, I played the ultimate frisbee in college. Cool. All right. Not a difficult thing, or sorry, not, not an easy thing. Right? Very fun. But again, what does that mean for them? So they're used to quick turns, right? They're used to that sort of like agility, quickness, you know, sort of thing. Obviously, it's not very strength demanding, per se, right? So there's no pushing, right? Like it's not a football like at all. So that person, you know, wasn't spending their off days benching, or working on any sort of like upper body strength. And then of course, it's like for most people, a some injury sets in, and then that changes everything else. Because the injury then puts them in this place of insecurity, it puts them in is obviously the physical trauma of it all the fear of movement, as I believe it's called clinical side, right, which is like, I don't want to go do that activity that led to this injury anymore. I don't even want to do the same thing. Oh shit. So when you allow yourself to be dictated by the injuries, just as an example, you all of a sudden just naturally end up becoming sort of less expressive, less free in your body. Because you're just accepting this confinement, this injury, this sort of inability to do XYZ. That's my reality now. And so I don't want to I don't even want to try anything else. So now you take away the playfulness, now you take away the spontaneity of the human body, which is you have children, or you're playing with children, or you're playing with your dog, or you're on a hike, it really doesn't matter. But again, it's not a lab. So it's not control. So you can't dictate it. But you have to all of a sudden do something, it comes back to the instincts. And so now it's that whole, am I reacting? Or am I going to stand still, and I don't think ever in human history it's ever served us to just be, you know, still like that, like, basically, like I can't, you know, like, I can't react sort of thing. So that's the interesting thing that we can sort of learn about people, and athletes and just the coaches is just understand, like, Hey, man, there's a lot more into this, than just fixing that lunge, or fixing that overhead squat,

Bridget Moroney  11:15

there's so many things that I want to I want to kind of tease out there from what you said, but I'll just start with the first thing that just came to my mind. And it's something you so you were talking specifically about injuries and that that fear of movement. And, of course, that came up to me because as you know, I recently not reason, I guess it's been six months now. But about six months ago, I injured my knee, and thankfully didn't require surgery at surgery, went through the whole physical therapy and return to sport protocol. And you and I had this conversation, probably around that time, about six months ago, or four months ago. And, and one of the things that you brought up was just having that curiosity and being in the body and playing because what was it, it was my left, it was my left knee that I injured. And so it was just again, kind of getting re oriented with that body part with that side of the body and just seeing what it can do. But going back to what you just said just now about that fear, that was the biggest challenge for me and going through the, the the physical therapy journey. And I think for a lot of athletes, it was the psychological it was the confidence. My, my physical therapist basically had to cut me off because like I said, we did a whole return to sport protocol. And, and I think that's also another thing that you know, that you brought up is just like the lab, the controlled environment. So it's, it's like for anyone who's who, who is a physical therapist who has gone through physical therapy, you may know what I'm talking about. But it's like, you know, they have different ways to measure your quad strength to measure your medial glute to measure your, you know, and all that. And then of course, the prescription or the protocol is, you know, if you're within whatever it is 90% 95% 100% of your strength to the other side, and that's okay, or you're, you're good to go. And there's other tests like agility and things like that, that they do. And I passed all of those like, in some cases, I think my left leg was then stronger than my right leg because I had been working so hard to rehab the muscle and yet again, like you, you brought up, it was the psychological part

Luigi PIssani  13:31

If someone blindfolded you and told you like, walk through a room, you would still kind of you know, take one ginger step at a time. If someone threw a ball that you really quick, I was like, Go catch that. You would still have that. that split second of like, Can I do that? Yeah, no sort of question. Yeah,

Bridget Moroney  13:49

yeah. Yeah. And even like I said, like, with some of the bounding exercise, like so you do like a single leg, triple jump, or something like that. And I remember I go so it's interesting, like the part of me that's been an athlete for however many years of my life and just automatically will just launch into a jump did that but then it was like almost slow motion. Halfway through that jump, the the logical part kicks in and says, holy shit, you're injured and I landed to be able to Can I land it and I did landed and thankfully, you know, but it was just it was an interesting experience. So I bring that up, just to kind of, I don't know, I guess maybe just chat a little bit more about that, because we

Luigi PIssani  14:29

We underestimat it that's why we underestimate its capacity. And we talk about this like that say again, with just like a person and their relationship to pain just in general, right? Because one of the best ways I heard it is Tom Meyers, from Anatomy Trains, saying that pain was a sensation, followed by the immediate withdrawal of that sensation. Right. So like, it's just like something that you feel and then you just withdraw from it. Like, you know, immediately, but still, it just becomes a part of adaptation, right? If you had a bruise, and I poked that bruise or you poke your bruise, it'd be very fragile the first day, it would be very ginger the second day, and by the week, right, it just wouldn't be that much of a thing. So that's the situation of like a bruise, like, what are we talking about in within the tissues that we don't see? Right? Whether it's like, you know, your PCL ACL, or whether it's, you know, an actual, like, you know, tear you know, of like the muscle, you know, we we really don't have a visual of what that looks like. And I think even when you go into a typical sort of like, assessment, same thing, it's all words, right? So if we noticed that people, every every single person has a different way of absorbing the information, and some people are a bit more visual, or some people are a bit more, you know, auditory, and some people like, be more kinesthetic, how is it that we can sort of fill those gaps of information for that person, because you're not the first person that's going to be able to bounce back from this injury, you know, you're not the first or the last person like this happens. And even we can talk about injuries that are even worse, you know, a person that for example, this is something that happened to me, I fell on the back of my head with my entire body weight up on top of me, right, like this was this was my, this was my foot, like, you know, when you like, took that first jump right? In one of those like, trampoline, places, Sky Zone or whatever I forget what like it's called, you know, with my brother, sister in law, the whole thing you know, just like typical, it wasn't even a backflip I had just done a backflip but I wanted to land on my back and bounce back. First time ever trying it I overshot. It landed on the back of my head, I hear crick crick crick crick you know, we got like, C5 C7 like I had five that I just heard that. But in my conscious at the moment, the first thing I said to myself was I just got a beautiful adjustment. Like, yeah, like, like, as if I had been into the chiro. So but just, you know, did that whole thing. And I look over to my brother and I have my hand like you're pulling my arm. And he like hops runs over to me like did that that just happened and he like comes over me. And he lays on the floor, he gently like pulls my arm. And as soon as I could feel that sensation of that opening, I was like, okay, cool that like, if that's there, and that's active, then everything else is, you know, it's just fine. So I got up. And I could feel this rush of blood to the back of like my head like right where you don't want to put the the bar where you're going to squat, right like right on that on that bone. And I walk over to a pole in a ring in a hold on to the pole. And I just went through the checklist of feeling every single little bit of my body, because I understand that again, when it comes to that fragile part of the human body that's going to control every other single, like, you know, muscle movement, when it comes to your knee. It's not just the knee, as in like the bone itself, but it's all of the tissues and the muscles and the actions that affect that part of your body. So how you're sitting, how you're standing up, how you're twisting, how you're bending, it's not just the relearn again, but you have to relearn them with this other experience that's lingering in your head of the oww moment. The fuck that happened, you know, oh I'm hurt again, you know, or whatever it is, right? So it's, so that's the part that you have to come to peace with that, you know, there's a bit of acceptance of like, okay, I'm not as explosive right now in the very beginning. Okay, I'm getting some strength back, you know, now it's not like, I'm completely incapacitated, and I have to wear a boot or a brace or whatever. Now I can do these things again. And then now imagine even the vocabulary six months later. Right. And you have to watch yourself because you use the word recent. Yeah,

Bridget Moroney  18:43

I did. Recently. It'd be like last week, right? You're right. Yeah.

Luigi PIssani  18:47

Recently, it'd be like, you know, like, maybe like two weeks ago, right?

Bridget Moroney  18:51

Yeah, it's almost it's half a year, basically. I mean, anyone can can agree that so much can and does happen within half a year. Yeah. So

Luigi PIssani  18:59

yeah, completely, completely. So all those different parts, you know, of the body of the way that we understand things, you know, so again, it's always going to be like your ability to succeed in your rehabilitation, will be based off of how well how in tune, you actually are with this vessel. You know, how well you've established you know, its physical abilities, how well you've sort of continued to communicate with your body, you know, over the years, you know, like one of the reasons why you notice a person like LeBron James right will go all out on their offseason in season like treatment is because they know like this isn't just the kind of sport like for the longevity of 20 years, you know that he's on his way to like, you know, to having this isn't just a thing of like, Oh, I'll play and then maybe I'll ice and then maybe I'll get a massage once a week and maybe I'll just get a adjustment like a chiro adjustment every six weeks and yeah, I'll hit the gym.  Maybe 10 times over the course of a month, it doesn't happen that way. Like it's very, very set apart. And that's the thing that I feel like people in one way or another, we can look to these athletes, these professionals that are doing it to that level, take some slight notes. So maybe it's not that I'm getting a massage once a week, but maybe I'm at least like holding on to my leg more than once a week, maybe I'm like checking in with like, my shoulders and seeing how they open up, you know, throughout the day, and not just waiting until the moment when I step into the gym to do that. And that's where fe:al, you know, I might have my whole life sort of approach comes in, as you're feeling everything and then actively living, you know, it's like you're choosing to remain in that place that falls in line with the universal constant, that everything is constantly in motion. Same thing with like, your body, you know, so even in like a conversation, I'll be opening up my hip, you know, or opening up this thumb, or just like, you know, understanding the endless sensations that are that are occurring in the body, that way, you know, you don't become numb to it, you know, and then that way, you don't become disconnected from it. And then that way, when I do step into the gym, maybe I don't have to spend 20 minutes before I can then go and like lift the weight, like I'm already kind of like, I'm already good, I kind of get, you know what I can do,

Bridget Moroney  21:16

I love that. And it's a kind of just makes me think about just I guess, mindfulness in general, like for anyone who practices meditation and mindfulness, the whole idea is to just have that awareness of not only your thoughts, but also your body. But the more that you kind of just are in the practice of noticing your felt experience, whether that is emotionally, psychologically, physically, then as as you pointed out, the more likely you are to just be able to manage that, like, oh, there's, there's another thought again, or Oh, like you mentioned, you know, you're someone who's in tune with their body all day long, they're, they know exactly what they need to get going in the gym,

Luigi PIssani  21:58

you know, that saying, like, the way you show up, you know, in the world, you know, type of thing. So if you think of a person, right, that stays in that disconnected, you know, sort of part, or in that space where like they overtrain, or like over abuse the body, right, so the time that they are active, they're really taking the body to the max. So they're running like, you know, the 15 plus miles, right, to just get everything out of them, there's no like gradual threshold, there's just kind of like, they're, they're sort of here, and then boom, they take it up here, the way that that sort of, you know, might affect like the person is, again, that's just a way a different way of, of just not really caring for the body, because you're taking it to that extreme. It really like it takes away the mindfulness, you know, because it's just now at this point, it's just an ego trip, you know, at this point, it's not like, I'm gonna go squat, you know, 400 pounds, you know, just because other people are looking at me, you know, in the gym, or I'm gonna go run this thing over here, because someone yelled at me at work, right? So I'm gonna keep on running until I don't really think about that anymore, or until my body breaks down. And that's the part where, like, there's no grace in that, and therefore no longevity. And at least for for me, from my perspective, you know, that's like, the kind of thing where it's like, you have to make these personal choices and understand what is it that you want to get out into your body out of your body? And how do you want to fit this whole mind? Muscle spirit? How do you want to fit that in this, this space? Right? And that's and that for me, that's what the whole fitness thing sort of comes in. It's not the aesthetic, it's just your own perspective of how you feel like fitting into you know, who you are, and how you fit into you know, the rest of

Bridget Moroney  23:39

the world something that I was thinking of earlier and and you kind of just brought it up here but the whole idea that people often use exercise, physical movement, whatever to disassociate from their felt experience. So I've had this conversation with another somatic coach Rachel Rachel Overoll Yeah, especially or oftentimes this this is a struggle for for women because there is that that's social or you know, that narrative from society where it's you know, your body has to be this way like you said like it's it's not an aesthetic thing but um, yeah, just going back to like what you said like I had a really crappy day at work so I'm just going to just run my literally run myself into the ground or things like that and and just yeah, like you said, like not having that that mindful connection to your body as a as a vehicle and and that kind of overall consideration for the longevity of things or you're just you're just using movement as a way to disassociate from what's really going on just like anything, I mean, like people bring this up off and like exercise can be in it. Yeah, it's an it's an addiction, just like anything else, like drugs, alcohol, sex, gamble, whatever you want to put in there. It's just a way to check out

Luigi PIssani  24:54

and that's and that's the part that I don't want to say like, it's only specific to endurance sports, because I look at CrossFit. Have you done it really, people really get into it, you know, but at the at the same time, it is at least worthy of bringing you up in conversation and discussing it in that roundtable kind of format of understanding like, Hey, man stress being or exercise being this stress on the body, what kind of relationship do you have to? And really, what is it that you're trying to get out of that that whole experience, because if it is just like another rat race to you, then you're already doing that, in your professional and corporate life, now you're applying it to this one thing that really should be more of like just this whole, like sort of freedom, it really should be more of that just like liberating moment, you know, for your body. The fact that you, you know, wrote something down, and you're gonna do five pull ups, right? And then you achieve that, and like, God, what a beautiful sensation, because you got six, what a beautiful moment to just like, have that honest, authentic, you know, experience of yourself of looking up at that bar. And being like, I really don't know if I'm going to do it. And then you do, because you, you develop part of that belief, because it didn't just happen in that one moment, it was a cultivation of moments that led to that, right, because it had to start off with just hanging on the bar and trying your best to just pull yourself up. And by the time you were to get to five, or six, now all of a sudden, it's like, it's just a whole other world. And that's and that's the, that aspect of, you know, exercise or movement or physical expression, and all those things that I would love for people to continue sort of noticing, and like getting into because it doesn't stop at what the magazines put out. Or even what the Instagram Stories of a person going in, like, here's my shoulder, and I just bang out 90s And then this is how I hit up the arms. And then you see this, you know, this whole sculpture of a person, you know, and you're just like, wow, really? Yeah, like literally just those exercises, and I might look that way. And instead, like, get all that out of your head, forget about even even wanting to, to get to their place, and just find yourself in your own. And that's just a whole discovery.

Bridget Moroney  27:02

No, I love that. And this, this is something that gets brought up a lot when it comes to nutrition is is just again, the same thing, like people go on to Instagram or whatever. And it's like, here's what I eat in a day. And it's like, if every single person ate the exact same way, every single day, we would all look different. If every single person did the exact same shoulder routine, we would all look different. So yeah, like I love that perspective of just like basically just run your own race there. So to speak their focus, focus on your own experience, because I think that's the one of the things too, I was talking about this with with another coach and just kind of potential like, this is what your potential is, but what's my potential and me it's not, it's not even like a good or bad or better or whatever, it's just what am I capable of, it's going to be different. Because we are all different,

Luigi PIssani  27:50

it's gonna, it's going to be different. And it should be and you would you, you should pray for it to be different, you know what I mean? Like you, you should really like wish that it'd be as different as possible. Because in that difference, that's where you find your own individuality. Right, or your own uniqueness. And in that difference of you being authentic about it, because that's, to me, that's the one of the lessons that I learned from Bruce Lee, one of his famous quotes was saying that, that martial arts, right, could be very showy, you know, they, it would be easy for him to be very boastful to just go out and like, throw a punch, right? And just look cool about it. Right. But to have an honest expression of that punch of just like, No, this is this is all, you know, encompassed in that one sort of reaction to have that that honest expression, that's, that was just something else, you know, that that was that was really hard to do. And this is just sort of been a focal point or a constant in my life is that it has always been a moment where I've tried to kind of go away from what the norm, you know, sort of was to one to one degree or another, you know, when I was younger, it was the haircuts, you know, like my friends in middle school all had to fades and I was had long hair, almost like I do now, but not as long as I do now. Right? It was still kind of like mushroomy, or whatever. But it just, it wasn't that cool? It wasn't. But I just I kept it at that length, because everyone already had that same look. And like you're saying, even if we did eat all those things, and even if we did work out all the exact way it still wouldn't be the same. So that should that should just be like the new truth. You know, the new axiom of life that's sort of like, understood, like, Okay, if I run once a week, if I go to the gym three times a week, if I dance twice a week, if I, you know, decide to eat these things, this is what will occur for me and as long as that makes sense to you. And as long as you're able to still function and respond, you know, to the things in your life, you know, you don't doubt yourself, but really the way you really want to kind of show up it just brings a different kind of meaning to life. So the next time you do get that message from your boss, or someone does yell at You in the middle of the street or whatever you don't wither, you don't close off, you know, you show up and you're just like, okay, cool. This is this is me,

Bridget Moroney  30:11

we always I think that it's this is just like human nature in general but we we want to make meaning out of everything I say whether whether it is something that happens in just our physical experience or like you said, your, your boss yells at you or something and and it's, it's, you know, you, you we internalize it, and we we make it we make it part of our reality they are it becomes the truth to us.

Luigi PIssani  30:33

Well, that's the thing that happens again, it's the childhood thing, right? Because whether you had your parent there both parents with you, or one or none, but every single part of your reality and your understanding of the world at first was coming from a different lens. And that's what and that's what you accepted.

Bridget Moroney  30:50

When you are a child, when you are a teenager, that's you, you sort of have to right? because you're just you're young, you have you know, we are relying on these adults, these individuals society to to help us make sense. But when you get to adulthood, it becomes your responsibility to kind of take a look at what those learned behaviors, what those what those beliefs are, and

Luigi PIssani  31:15

you reconsider them. And again, that same analogy can apply to again to exercise because when when I was younger, right, it was master your push ups and your dips and your pull ups, right and then go into lifting weights. Part of that was also because the the established mindset of lifting weights was going to stunt your growth was accepted, which we know that's like, that's like not true. Just same thing with with women, right? Like, oh, if they lift weights, they'll get equally as big as men and that type of thing. And like, personally, very proud of, you know, the Crossfits of the world because it was able to give women and men equally the opportunity to realize your like, look at look at your human potential. This is a human potential. This isn't bounce a sexes, this is a human potential that is innate, in every single person that's willing to go through the process, and then the adaptation. And again, that's because like for 1000s and 1000s, not even millions of years because again, like how much do we really know about our human history, like really, really know about our human history, that aspect of just being one with the environment, of being in it of using, you know, the physical parts of us and, and using it intellectually as well, right? Like, no one now walks into, you know, a gym slaps on 500 pounds and then tries to like, lift it up with one arm that wouldn't make sense. Like you just understand, like, no, maybe we'll just start off with a five pound weight you know and open it up or whatever. But yeah, but that's, that's part of our adaptation, and intellect, you know, sort of like finding a rhythm, we can just, we can just see a slither of that it really helps change things for for the coming generations

Bridget Moroney  33:01

I guess kind of jumping off of that thought process there. So something that I'm sure you've heard your entire life as a as a trainer and as an athlete and things like that, but just it just gets said and in our vernacular in general, but it's the whole idea of of listening to your body, right? Like, you go to a you go to a CrossFit class will say and it's like you know, listen to your body or whatever, you're watching a coach or trainer on on Instagram, and yeah, that whole mantra, listen to your body, listen to your body, do what's right for your body. And I think intellectually, logically, people understand that like, on that, that surface level on that that logical level, but I guess kind of going back into like, what you do with with fe:al, and and in the ways that you work with people, they're like, how could you go deeper? Because I think you know, a simple example of listening to your body who I pushed it really hard in the gym yesterday, I'm extra sore today, maybe I should foam roll and stretch. And I think people people buy into that and get that. But again, it's like there's a lot more way, way under the surface than just that acknowledgement of, Oh, I feel sore today, which maybe that's the first step. But

Luigi PIssani  34:06

yeah, so the listening to your body, to me isn't quite possible. Like, what are you listening for? Should be that question. Charles Poliquin, the late great, best strength coach that ever existed. In modern times, he had had said how, and I'm sure he wasn't even the first right to understand this, but still our body's expression and the way in which we execute, you know, all these different movements and exercises and what is a physical language, it is a language that is developed with the repetition and the exposure. So going back, excuse me to the person who played Ultimate Frisbee and didn't really do much, you know, beforehand. Now, you throw them into the context of that lab of a CrossFit and now you're giving them this bar to hold overhead and now you're telling them to, you know, kind of lift up their shoulders a certain way, right, to engage, you know, muscle groups that just like you hear the whole listen to your body, you hear the whole, I had, I used muscles I didn't even know existed. So it's like, Well shit, like how how you get to listen to that what you don't know exists. So at that point, that's why for me, it begins with being outside of those spaces, and just being at home and just being in your car, and just being in your office, and just being but again, within the physical interpretation of that, which for me is understanding, okay, if you're sitting, have you ever wondered, or notice how how much you can open up one of your legs, like your hip, just from a seated position, because that's going to bring about a certain level of sensation, I don't care how flexible you are, you can open it up to a certain length, and then at least be aware, like, oh, there's some feedback there, I'm getting this stretch, or I'm getting this pull, or I'm getting this whatever, right, whatever word you want to throw in, but it's still a sensation. And it's still a feeling that's happening internally, because it's not like you said, this is going to happen, and then you do it, and then it happens. So you have to do it first. And then you get the response. And doing that throughout your day. And doing that just throughout life. So that you keep building up on the awareness of the body parts, whether you know the name of the muscles or not, but you just know, okay, this kind of rotation is going to affect this part of my backside, this kind of position of my shoulder here, you know, will affect this side of my neck. And that's only possible with the action, like with the physical action, right? So you have to you have to do it in order to sort of learn it. So again, if that first component comes in, what are you listening for? Now, the age old, listening to your body, possibly makes just a bit more literal sense for a person because it has to exist with a practical approach, you know, it's not just this model type of thing. It doesn't make that doesn't exist, listen to your body doesn't exist without, you know, the body, like without the action. So that's what I would say to that.

Bridget Moroney  37:13

No, I love it. And are you familiar? I'm sure you're probably familiar with him. Kelly Starrett?

Luigi PIssani  37:19

Yeah, of course. Yeah. Yeah, back in back in the day, he was he was, he was one of the people that was giving the CrossFit community, you know, again, another lens, you know, of like, hey, mobility is important, you know, in this landscape, and that's a perfect, that's a perfect example. Because if you notice that your arm was never used to extending up overhead in this position, because you never tried it. The moment that someone gives you any amount of weight, including your own, and you try to go up there, how adept will you be at performing that you won't be because you're not versed in it? And you're not versed in it? Because you don't speak the language?

Bridget Moroney  38:01

Yeah, one of the things that I just like, like you say, like he introduced the the CrossFit community and just you know, people in the fitness world in general to the whole concept of mobility and just Yeah, movement, one of the one of the things I've just appreciate about his his style there, and if you watch his videos, or do you like any of his, like mobility exercises is it's just, it's again, it's that exploration of your tissue, and just seeing what's there. In other words, it's not like, Okay, we're going to get on a foam roller and roll out our glute for one minute or stretch our hamstrings for one minute. It's he has this whole process where you are Kind of like starting in one corner and and there's different and he doesn't even use like, like you said, like the language there. It's, it's, he'll use like, very just basically, like, you know, scrub back and forth, or, or takhat what I was gonna bring up a second ago, one of I was I was doing one of his mobile mobilization exercises one day, and he was talking about getting like that textbook that that control lab environment and when he was he was in school, and it was like an anatomy class and the lecture or the conversation was like, Well, if you extend you know, your your bicep this way, it does this to the, you know, the humerus bone. And he's like, Well, what if you twist it? What if you turn it? What happens if you go at this angle? And the answer was, well, we don't really know we only you know, it's so again, going back to like, kind of what you said a few moments ago of just having that experience there. And seeing like, Okay, if I extend my arm this way, then I feel it through my chest. Well, now if I rotate it now all of a sudden, and maybe I don't have the language for every body part. Maybe I don't have the length but I understand now okay, this movement does this this you know, and it's just having that that bigger understand, again, like what you said, What are you listening for?

Luigi PIssani  39:52

Man, that's like, it really is such a simple concept. But again, it's like we want to make it more complicated than that is.  And that's why I like, at least the way that I've separated myself from like the Kelly Starretts of the world and like people like that because especially around the time that we met, I didn't even have an Instagram and things of that nature because I was like, I don't have anything new to share, like everything that I knew. And I learned at that time just came from my, you know, graduate professor and the professor's before that, which was cool, you know, and I still thank God for like, all the lessons all the time. But nonetheless, it was just like, What am I offering? You know, because what what have I been able to just learn from my own experience and body, the thing that was interesting to me, from people like Kelly Starrett like he was using a tool, the bands that were traditionally maybe just use for the resistance, right, but he was applying that resistance in a different way, you know, to get a different kind of feedback for the body, which in this case, was to lengthen or to loosen, you know, what are opened up or whatever. And then that same thing happened to me, but with furniture. So it was, it was like, I hurt my shoulder at the Crossfit Wynwood doing things on rings, doing dislocates on rings, and then I had to, you know, sort of build it, you know, backup little by little. But I just, I just noticed this small connection that it was just like, yes, it's cool for me to walk into the gym and then take that band, and then try to pull it a certain way. And then do it in this really textbook picture perfect esque kind of way. But now you're just replicating and imitating, you're not exploring, and there's a difference. There are people that do the animal flows or the world or people that are into the movement cultures of the world, and people that are into the martial arts, and they're still going through the process of imitation of the things that came before them. But it's not because they themselves, right decided like, Okay, I want to see what my kick looks like, or my punch looks like, or the way in which I would take a person down just with my own, just me like, how would I be able to do that? And it's like, maybe even, it's harder to go about it in that way. Because you're starting from scratch. You know, it's like, if I gave a kid of basketball, that didn't know about the sport, and was like, do something with it, what would they do with at first, you know what their instinct would be to, I'm gonna take this round object and try to fit it into a certain circular, you know, kind of like other objects. Because, that's what makes it basketball, right is like you take this ball, you put it into that basket. And then the same thing happens, you know, with flexibility, it's like, we just have one example to measure all your hamstrings. But is that really the only way that we can figure out how flexible your hamstrings are? Sure, I can try to touch my toes. But again, if we accept that it's not this compartmentalize form of the body, where it's just like one muscle group at a time, and to, you know, Kelly's point of like, well, what if we do twist it, you know, and what if we do, you know, kind of rotate it a certain way. And all these things, you realize there's so much more than here. And then at that point, now you have a whole life of a practice. Now, it's not just like one this one sort of occasion, it just becomes this collection. And that's where the story of your body comes in.

Bridget Moroney  43:18

On that note there. And going back to how you work with clients and and you know, our friend the ultimate frisbee player there, because those are we've all well, many, not all of us, but there are many of us who have had those moments of just kind of I guess you could call it like maybe flow state, if you well, but you're just in the moment, in your experience, like how do you when you specifically when you work with your clients, maybe kind of get them in, get them to revisit those, those those times. So they can apply it to their life now.

Luigi PIssani  43:50

Yeah. So because I'm such a supporter, I guess, advocate of using objects, right of using your general surrounding of having on applying that same thing that the way that ancient humans were with the environment. But again, within your home, you know, we don't sit on rocks, like we sit on a couch, we don't climb trees, we hang from a bar, you know, we don't run barefoot throughout, you know, the jungle, you know, we sort of just walked barefoot into the shower. Now you just wear slippers around the house, but it's almost presenting them with the opportunities to learn something new from something that they've been doing for such a long so so so just consider that right? So like if I were to tell you, when you get into bed, don't just lay down and grab your phone and read a book. Take your head rests, like the headboard that you have right or a wall that you have right behind your bed and place one hand on it and see if you can place it flat or as flat as possible. And then notice what that feeling like what that sensation is like at first, right because for some people, it's like I'll be able to do it comfortably. And for some it's like not so much, because again, I haven't opened up my arm in this sort of way, in however long or ever, and then it's, you know, now let's see if we can draw something with that hand. And that's the sort of the same sort of thing that you will listen to when it comes to saying physical therapy, when you mess up your ankle, they certainly tell you to do the ABCs, right with your foot, you know, to get like the motion of your ankle, your dorsi and plantar flexion. Again, and like, reestablish that sort of muscle mind connection to it. And the whole thing, this is just a space where like, this is your bed that we're talking about this is, you know, in a position that you're usually always in, but now you're adding something that is just that much different, and then allowing them to get lost in what that physical reaction experience is going to be like, or placing their head, you know, in the wall, like above or behind them. And that, to me, is just a snippet into what the flow states can be like, because it's a rhythm that you get your body into, it's this place of you're not thinking, necessarily, or doubting or questioning what's coming next. And so the same thing happens when we're talking about the whole thing with like, you know, the immitation aspects is, if you're imitating someone else, you're actively thinking, whether you're putting your foot or your head in the exact same position, or the exact same way that that other person did, you might lie to yourself and say, like, No, I'm going to flow that's not flow, that's just that's just copying, but when you're a flow, you're just, you know, in that grounds, or up against that wall, or holding on to that ball. And you're just figuring it out as it comes, because of the way feels to you on the inside. versus the way it's looking on the outside

Bridget Moroney  46:49

just makes me think of music and certain musicians. So we listen to a lot of jazz in my household because my wife's from Louisiana. So she's got that whole New Orleans tie. But that's, that's the, that's the beauty of music, like jazz is the whole improvisation and totally like, you can tell when a musician is just copying someone else's riff or whatever versus like, when they're really in the flow. And they're just, they're not like, like you said, like, they're not even thinking about which note the note just, they just come they're just coming out of their, their instrument or whatever, and they create something amazing. So

Luigi PIssani  47:25

that's possible with the bot. And that's and that's what we're, I'm saying with the philosophy of fe:al and all that like that's like, that's where that sort of comes in, do not underestimate that sort of inherent rhythm that's there for you. And you can find that rhythm and your strength, and you can find that rhythm and your mobility, and you could find that rhythm before you present to your company, you know, and you can find that rhythm as you're about to engage with your kids. Because we all know that kids will always respond first to how you're showing up here versus the words that are being thrown out. Because again, they still are lacking that concept of like, what that word is and the definition of that word and the context in which is being used, and so on and so forth. Right? It's not like what you say how you say it, you know, that whole thing, but that same thing will always apply first to the body language because I think like 90% of our communication is nonverbal. So it's like the way the lips are moving, you know, and the eyes open up the smile comes in and all these different things

Bridget Moroney  48:24

not only our communication like with with each other our body language with each other but towards ourselves there so I don't know if you've read any of her research or seen her TED talk but Amy Cuddy had this whole study around body language and basically it's kind of the whole idea of fake it till you make it so to speak. So they they took these subjects and they studied their their confidence and and things like that before a job interview or a presentation and basically what they had them do they had half of the group do what she calls power poses and again looking at at nature, they're the animal kingdom so like you see like bird like a peacock Right? Like spreads its its feathers there or gorillas lions like their chest. Yeah, like right, they have like their chest up. So in the human in the human world there she has, like a couple like one is like the power of not the power of the Wonder Woman. Superman. Yeah. Or the Superman. Yeah. And then the opposite is true. So in the animal kingdom, when animals feel threatened, when they're afraid, they withdraw into themselves, and we as humans do that, too. And we don't even realize we're doing it to ourselves, like going back to that job interview or presentation like What do so many people do? Just inherently they're on their phones were shrugged in and the message that that's sending to your body to your confidence is shrink down make yourself smaller. So anyway, so this this whole study revolved around that having people in these Power Poses for like two to three minutes versus others and then they had them present and they took like a confidence like just like a subjective test. There's like, how do you think you did and not surprisingly the people that were in these more open, powerful poses perceive themselves to do better. And I think even the people who are doing the job interviews, like the interviewers were like, oh, yeah, he was a lot more charming, or Yeah, she was like she was the better candidate based on that.

Luigi PIssani  50:15

Yeah, that's, that's a very old, say, old, in, in quotes there, right. But a very old science of understanding. I know, the Tony Robbins of the world are very big into having that power pose, right, make your move. So I remember I had gone to share a quick story with you, I had been sponsored to go to one of his seminars, and you know, you're sitting all day. And I don't think people quite have figured out yet how to break people out of like that cycle of like, we want people to learn, but you're also asking them to sit for like eight to 10 hours. So how much are they really grasping, you guys keep trying to figure it out, give me a call, or you want to figure it out, I got you. But either way, so it's like, you know, they would have people obviously stand up and then play a little bit of music, if you loosen up a little bit, jump around, just like athletes would, you know, just before getting ready for the game, you know, the sort of the whole sort of like huddle thing, use your partners as well feed off of like their energy, right, that physical space energy that they have there, and then make your own little power move, right. And it could be like, arms up, right? But it's always an opening, it's always an expansion. It's never, like, make a move, make a move? It's never it's never like that. It's like, I want you to look real aggressive and powerful right now, like, you don't like that. That doesn't it? Would it make sense, you know. And again, it's true with our kin, right from the animal kingdom, it's true with us. That's why for me, at least that understanding is like you realize that that opening can be continually possible that being in tune with your body and maintain that connection. It's not just one move. And it's not just that one part of the day, right? It's just, it's just always there, you know, and it's just as long as you just realize, like, if I can hold on to something, then I can let go of whatever it is that sort of stuck in my mind, if I could find support, you know, and what's in what's around me, maybe just that much easier for me to open up

Bridget Moroney  52:13

that word open. It's I was just thinking, like, for anyone who's ever been to a yoga class, that's something that you that you often hear is, you know, open and then you'll hold the pose. And then the teacher, or at least the teachers that I've practice under be like, open a little bit more open. And it's just like you say, like that continuous or continual opening, they're just trying to see how much you know, even if it's just a a millimeter, or even if it's just that perception of like, Oh, I'm open, my body's softened.

Luigi PIssani  52:41

Yeah, no one's no one's measuring that that's a thing. And that's the difference between the PTs of the world is when you step into that spot. It's like, what's the degree of freedom that you have here? You know, what's your range of motion? Like, right? But based off of these numbers, but again, you don't go don't go by like your life, right? You don't you don't go down that path of life. Trying to measure things in that way, just sort of do think you can or you can type of thing, or you try, but you're not definitely not worried about how much you know, am I that's, that's the one thing that I wish we could apply even, I guess, on the financial level, you know, well, because some people get sort of very caught up, you know, it's like, alright, well, you gotta house you know, you got a car, but how much money? Do you still kind of like, have, you know, versus like, what kind of life are you actually just living?

Bridget Moroney  53:30

I mean, yeah, I've seen that just in just acquaintances, and people I know, like, it's just like, so many things. There's, there's always going to be more but someone Someone brought this up. And I thought this was a an interesting point, is that your life? And I think there's even been studies done on this. But once you reach like, a certain level of income, there life doesn't really change. Like you had, like you said, you have a house, you have a car you have. So at the end of the day, I guess what I'm trying to say is like, whether you have a million dollars in your bank account or not, you're still going to come home to a house. Maybe if you're a multi millionaire or billionaire, your house is bigger, but how is that adding anything to your to your experience there? Right? Like the experience of being in a house is still the same? Sure. It's a bigger house. It's a you know, quote, unquote, cooler house, maybe in some respects there, but

Luigi PIssani  54:18

it for the people that are in it, that just just for the people that get stuck in that, like if they're in that sort of place in life, and they're asking that question, that's why it's more important to turn the house into a home. So how much at home do you actually feel in that space? Versus what does my house consist of? Because yeah, you know, those things won't add a certain value to your life. And again, you know, that the moment something happens to you like an injury sort of thing, and none of those things inside of the house are gonna help you know, that as a matter of fact, maybe if you have a bigger house, you just made it harder for yourself. Because you can't walk around because you're still confined to like this one little area. So like, who cares?

Bridget Moroney  54:58

No, it's it's it's good. Good point, like, yeah, if if my, if my bedroom is on the third floor of my house and my leg is broken, then it's going to cause some issues, you brought this up earlier, the whole idea when people especially when we were like, I guess in the, in the context, just in general, just just using exercise to disassociate from our stress, and you mentioned that that's basically just putting more stress on your body on your nervous system. And and even if I guess even if you're not using exercise in that way, any any sort of intense exercise or physical training or things like that is going to stress your body, like just going through your day to day to day life. There is like a certain amount of physical but also psychological stress. And so going back to what you do with with fe:al, and again, I guess this maybe is can tie in to tapping into the body, but what are some of the things that that you have people do to maybe manage their nervous system in that way? Because again, being more present in your body certainly helps. But I guess what else can be done? Or, you know, for those people who are exercise addictive in that respect?

Luigi PIssani  56:07

Yeah, well, for the people that exercise addictive, it's something else, right? Because they're just like, they're too much. Right? So then how did you just, you know, sort of bring it down some levels for the people that are still kind of navigating, right, the effect of stress in their world and in their life in general, whether it's the emotional one, you know, or not, it's how, like, if a person were to reflect right on throughout their day, how many times throughout the day, can they think of where some cause of some kind of negative stress is being brought up on them? Right? Or they're just exposed to it? You know? So, in Miami, you want to talk about traffic? Perfect example. Right? Like, okay, cool, I get it. It sucks and some people again, they'll try to use the music, or something, right? So okay, you got the music jamming, right? But are you dancing in your car, because your car is not moving, but are you still kind of like moving, you know, while you're in the car, so that you're more into this positive experience of the music or the gym with your body and the dance or just like, you know, being free and open at that moment, versus, well, I'm not, I'm not going anywhere, because there's nothing you can do about that. Like, you're not just gonna magically part all of those cars out of your way, and get to your destination, 10 minutes faster. At this point, it's an acceptance of understanding this is traffic. And this is what happens in traffic. So now how can I get the most out of my, you know, moment there, right. And that's where just like I said, like, I'm very, I'm a big advocate of like, you know, using your surrounding environment, right. So that car, excuse me, that car is like a spaceship to be the way you can hold on to the headrest. And the way you can, like, you know, gently put an arm on the roof of your car, the way you can hold on to a steering wheel, you know, the way you can relax your neck and just like, let in like fold, using your head rests, every single one of those little pieces, you know, within the car serve that sort of purpose for your body, we just don't necessarily consider it as such a thing, right? Because again, we just look at the vehicular, right as this mode of transportation we sit in, we put it in drive, we just go but if you want to tag along the analogy of like, it's not about the destination, it's about the journey, maybe that's a good time to apply that, that it's not about just putting your car and drive and just making it to where you got to go. You know, it's kind of like making the most out of like, your time there for the people that are, you know, getting into the more intense kind of modes of, of sport and the whole thing. The easiest way to get get into them, it's just the moment when they are injured, to move when they were forced, you know, to slow down, right, the moment what they like, kind of realize, like, No, I can't keep this up very long, because nobody keeps up. marathon running, right for like, 40 plus years. Like it's nothing like you don't you don't hear about that happening. You hear about people that maybe I know there was like this nun years ago, that she picked up running, like in her 50s and that she ended up doing like Ironman and stuff like that, like, Yo, that's amazing. You know, that's like power of the body. Again, someone that picked it up in their 50s able to do it. You know, I've seen videos of men and women in their 70s and 80s still dead lifting and squatting pretty heavy. You know, a woman there out squats me like easily. She goes 90 degrees doesn't go all the way down, but doesn't matter. You know, it's like over 400 pounds on your back. Wow. But again, even the people that are like the extreme, like power lifting, you know, at that point, the ones that have come across that that I've really sort of appreciate will talk about, you know how their approach to getting under the bar is the same with the lightest weight with the heaviest weight so they understand right that it's really about that beginning step into the end. It's not like I just Want to hit that marker because I just want to get to that. And that's it. So the people that are going into these extreme bouts of exercises of exercise, just ask themselves the question like yo, as well. So how much has your body changed over the years? Are you are you actually like more efficient, you are now versus then. Because you think that you're you are, you know, if you've put 10 years into something, and you're still struggling just as much after 10 years than you were in the beginning, then clearly, it's had a negative effect on you. And then and then that's where we have the discussion about recovery, how are they maximizing their recovery, because some of these people probably aren't getting the best sleep. And now it's, that's and just that thing is starting to affect all these other things in their life, you know, so it really just becomes more of this sort of, like, what's the bigger picture, you know, around your world and your life is being painted and affected. In this case,

Bridget Moroney  1:00:50

I saw a post from a strength and conditioning coach not too long ago, but it was it was basically essentially that it's like so many, especially young lifters, young athletes, in general, because, you know, for many of us, when we're when we're at that age, we're driven incredibly by our egos. But it's like, you want to be relentless in your training, you want to be perfect with your diet, whatever. It's like be relentless with your recovery. What you mentioned with the with the power lifters, like don't just apply like the best mechanics and all out effort, attitude, whatever, focus for your heaviest lift, do that for your warmup another quote that I had seen a long time ago, but was basically that like, many people think that advanced athletes, advanced lifters are that way, because of whatever, like special abilities or advanced skills. It's No, it's because they've mastered the basics. It's because they've built such a huge foundation of just they practice the mechanics of their squat, whether there's a bar, whether there's no bar, whether there's 500 pounds, whether there's just 100 pounds, it's the same focus and intensity. And I guess I'll just say one more thing about just kind of talking about longevity in any sport, they're just having that that open mind and and curiosity of like, okay, I'm not 20 anymore, but what can my body do at this age? What can my body do at this weight? Now I'd like talking about like, maybe powerlifting, because there's so many different weight classes and things like that distance running, there is a guy that I follow Rich Roll, which he he's kind of another one of those people to where he found he came into Ultra running. He's actually an ultra runner. He's done like all the Ironman and just crazy amounts of running. But he came into in his 40s. And at one point, he was like, very competitive. And he did quite well. But I think for him now, I've heard him say in just interviews and podcasts, like, running isn't about the time or the speed anymore, it's maybe a different type of experience. And so kind of echoing all that

Luigi PIssani  1:02:49

every single Yeah, every single person that you can get out, to even hear about that, like really got into it, you know, that like they really, really, really got into it, you can take those sorts of lessons from Kobe Bryant, again, one of my one of my favorite, I would probably consider him a mentor, I didn't get to meet, you know, he was definitely one of the people that when it came to, you know, his approach, you know, of the game, there was no way he was getting to the point that he reached without the fundamental, you know, without the basics of, you know, his footwork, his ball handling, just the way in which he can manage the transfer of his way and his body in space, and also against an opponent, or one of the things that he asked Michael Jordan, he was, he was finally playing against him, and just realize that the guy was just getting to his spots to hit the shots that he had already practiced 1000s of times, but he was doing it effortlessly. Like, how is that possible? How is this person just, you know, using their body and the ball in a certain way? Where it just like, you know, it was instinctive, right. And I think that's the port, that's the part where the Rich Rolls of the world, you know, might be able to agree on, you know, now it's like, you do want to be able to make it to this relationship with your body where it's just, it's things where you don't have to sort of analyze it in any way. It's just sort of habits. And that's and that's going back to flow state, like that's that piece, you know, of that. And that, again, you have to know what you're working with, you know, you have to know what you're what you have. And that's and that's the, that's the thing where, because now in this world that we that we have now, right? You have so many different options, right? If you want your food delivery, you got 10 different options. You know, if you want your gyms you have 10 different styles of gyms that you can go to, you can keep it at the Pilates and the yoga world, or you can get into the CrossFit and the F45s or you can or you can peloton it. You're still getting your money's worth for that like whatever. But yes, it may be important for you to be able to expose yourself to all these different practices but at the same time, understand that it's still the fundamentals of your body, which will run really harness the experience in all of those practices. So if you don't have an adequate, you know, level of leg or core strength, then the moment you step into that Pilates class, you might have a very difficult time trying to do all the different, you know, abdominal base like things. Because again, we're no one's really ever going to change, right? The Anatomy of our bodies, right? Like, every human being that comes out whether they want to call themselves X, Y, Z, or they come from one or two parent household, you know, or they were raised in the jungle versus they were raised in the city, right, it's still two feet, two legs, two arms, the hands, the head, like this is still just it. Right, this is our canvas. So when it comes to the things that it's capable of, right, like, we still are bend, you know, in these directions, you know, we still all turn our heads, you know, in this sort of way, we might just be sort of limited, one versus the other, right on how far we might be able to go with that. So I can extend my arm perfectly overhead and like the straightest line possible, you know, and then still be able to rotate my wrist, a person might, another person might be able to do Ultimate Frisbee, you might be able to extend his arm, you know, maybe with a slight sort of bend, and not necessarily be able to turn his wrist, you know, all the way, or be able to connect or disconnect, you know, those things, one of the things that I noticed with people a lot is that there's no separation between upper and lower body, they think that they literally, like if it's like in tennis, right? Some people just just rotate like, everything completely, like they don't realize that you can actually twist your spine without necessarily moving your legs, or that you can roll your ankle in and out. Right, without necessarily like affecting, you know, your knee type of thing, in that understanding of every human body still has that same sort of like, you know, structure, when you do use it for this sport, or that's sport, or this activity or the other, it's still this combination of the relationship to its strength, the relationship to its motion, the relationship, to its pain, all of those things that are sort of participant and then and then relationship to its belief, right? as well. Because again, like if you were injured, and you don't have that belief that I can do this thing, right, that's going to play a part, it's so much to balance. But that's why like, we're so magnificent in our design that way, is because we can balance all of those things all at once without even knowing.

Bridget Moroney  1:07:45

Yeah, the stories and the language that we tell ourselves like is so, so critical there. And again, this is like something that my wife and I have been just talking about recently. And I forget who did the study on it, but it was basically the idea of using positive language versus negative language. And there was a Japanese scientist and he did this experiment water. Yeah, with the water crystals there. Right and saying like, Yeah, really? Well, yeah, I forget his name. But anyone who's who's unfamiliar with it, he had basically would say positive things to water and then it would turn into like these beautiful crystals when frozen. And then he would say negative things. And the crystals that came from the negative language were not as beautiful or intricate

Luigi PIssani  1:08:31

The design was just very like, oh, look this call. Yeah, right. What's the what's what's the word that I'm looking for? But but it just, it just didn't look that some crystals where I was like love or peace, or like, again, a positive like affirmation to it. The lines were just so much distinct. Right, versus the other ones just everything seemed very chaotic, and cluttered. You know, it didn't necessarily seem like it, like everything intersected everything, but not necessarily in this like, I don't want to say like beautiful, but yeah, beautiful sort

Bridget Moroney  1:09:02

of Dr. Imoto that's who it was.

Luigi PIssani  1:09:06

Imoto Yeah, I was gonna say Hashimoto

Bridget Moroney  1:09:09

That's the thyroid. Close, though. Yeah, but, but just kind of taking it. I mean, a lot of people are aware of the idea of self talk. But you've also heard the idea that you know, what the body is like, what 70 80% water there. So if you just kind of think about that,

Luigi PIssani  1:09:26

that's, that's one of those things. We're, that's why the physical motion to me is so important. Right? Because it's like, unlike yoga, right? And that's not part of my practice. But unlike yoga, it's not about the poses, there's no salutations here. It is an exploration. And it's an exploration, you know, around like, again, what you have around you, right, or what you just have to use which again, same thing can apply to the gym, because I still do some traditional stuff, you know, in the gym like I'll still bench but only because I went up to a guy Once upon a time that I wanted to contribute, I don't know, you ever seen a video of me playing around with those bands that people you put around their ankles, right, but I put them on my wrist. And then I just turned it into this whole other, you know, this whole other thing. I call that intention. But I took that band and went behind my back, and then around again, right, like, like, dislocate type of thing or whatever. And this was years ago, and the guy looked at me and he was like, wow, you must not bench. It was like, such a compliment and insult at the same time. You know, the backhanded compliment where it was like, okay, yes, you're right, bro. I don't back then. And I started applying some of it. But my approach to benching now totally different. And as a matter of fact, I don't, I don't bench like, necessarily like, this is for I guess, on the on the recreational end, because obviously, I'm not powerlifting. But like, if you're benching over 250 pounds, like the max that I hit was 295. And again, it's just one like this is with less than, like two years of actively trying to apply it at some point or another. Because again, I wasn't doing it. I was all about rings and stuff like that. So, you know, to me, like I'm like, Cool, right? Not based on the numbers. But it's, it's the weight itself, it's not like the easiest to manage. But going back to the body of water, it's like because our connective tissue is made up of, you know, and requires that level of hydration. That's where the subtle motions come into place. Because it's like, circulation isn't possible, unless it's been activated unless something is moving. So just next next person that you that you talk to you just ask them like, Hey, man, what's your dominant side? How many things do you do your dominant side? Basically everything? What do you do with your opposite side? Almost nothing, bro, that's 50% of your body you're not using and then again, that will just play into all these other things in life, because your ability to learn certain things will be limited. Because you yourself are limited if

Bridget Moroney  1:12:04

you keep bringing this up, and I keep me in a comment on it. So I'll just comment on now. You've been bringing up throughout our whole conversation that with your, with your clients, and when you're working with people is like you said, it starts with the world around us. It starts with furniture, you know, when you get into bed at night, like how do you move about your bed and the headboard. And I guess I just want to say I love that idea. Because one it's you can talk about accessibility to everybody. Like we all we all live in this physical world, but two for people who do go to the gym, maybe it's maybe it's five hours a week, maybe it's four hours a week, it's not, it's not like so if you're only applying movement and things like that to gym spaces again, like talking about like 50% of your potential well, 99% of your, of your life is outside of the gym, or, you know, again, even for athletes, they're like, Okay, maybe they're 20 hours a week, but again, there's the great majority of our life is not in the lab in the gym, and things like that. So I guess I just wanted to say I love that whole perspective of how am I sitting down at my desk? What am I what am I doing before I get into bed each day, because yes, training is great. And if you are training for something specific, like you, but there's so many other types of movements that feed into that. And if you're not paying attention to it, for one reason or the other like it, it throws you off balance,

Luigi PIssani  1:13:21

it throws you off balance, and it just puts you in in a just more limited role because how can a an ice skater you know, like really get their most out of their ice skating if they don't understand their feet? Right? Like how can a gymnasts get their most out of their out of their strength? You know, if like, they don't understand their grip strength, how can an office employee get the most out of their work, if all of their blood just pools down here because they don't stand up, you know, enough or don't like release their neck enough and don't like get some actual blood flow to their head, which will again, you know, on a physiological level where you talk about the sympathetic versus parasympathetic part of the nervous system of the body. It's like, you know, parasympathetic, right? is where we will be sort of our most creative, more relaxed, more flow state. And really, that's only half that's only happening when everything else is flowing for, you know, athletes and non athletes and like, you know, that's the beauty of understanding this part. And every part right again, because that's my PSA, everything, understanding everything you know about your body because it will have an effect on everything else. Right. And Lauryn Hill used to say she said it best Everything is Everything

Bridget Moroney  1:14:34

I love it. I love it. I love that that's gonna be my new goal for every podcast. No, seriously, this is my benchmark now is to have some 90s Hip Hop reference in every episode. Oh, no, gotcha. No, but it's it's so true. We've been I mean, this is like such a fun conversation and like, yeah, we've we

Luigi PIssani  1:14:57

We had a talk. Yeah, we did. Ah, I would say, you know of anyone that's like listening and, and is in the LinkedIn world, because I don't, I don't do the Instagram, and I do have a YouTube channel, but I'm still kind of in the process of trying to figure out where else I can take that I'll share with you the idea, by the way, kind of considering calling the ACTS. Yeah, thank you, she was gonna say, ACTS as in active conversations transforming society. And essentially, it would just be a conversation almost like the one you had are having, except in the, in the confines of, of an activity. Right? So I could be maybe in a gym, you know, with the person, it's like, Hey, I don't know, you, but may ask you three questions. And can we do three movements, you know that, that kind of coincide with each one of these questions, and then see how the responses, right and the depth of the conversation may be changes when the person is engaged in their body, right at the same time, as well as giving out the sort of explanation, you know, of whatever it is that we want to know, we want to talk about. And so and so on LinkedIn, that's really just a place where as I'm going throughout life, I'm trying to share things that primarily can be relatable for the professional, you know, network of the world, because I've always felt like, they're the ones that, you know, they're not athletes, right? So we don't glorify them, you know, in that way, and yet, none of our businesses and none of our like day to day things get done without them. And, and this obviously includes people that are in the quote, unquote, service, you know, industry as well. But you gotta go into that site, you know, and yet, you are still like, now now people are noticing, like, oh, I need to be more embodied, but like, How can I do that, you know, if I still need to go into this workspace, where I still need to apply eight to 12 hours a day, you know, to making ends meet or to be able to feed my family, and things of that nature. And so, I don't want to be like, this new gym, I don't want to feel to be like this new exclusive club for like, members. You know, the thing I just want people to be able to know access, you know, the wealth of physical knowledge that surrounds you, wherever you are. Yeah. And then just just do that whenever you feel is necessary.

Bridget Moroney  1:17:19

So So definitely, for anyone listening, go check out Luigi on LinkedIn. And like you said, you said that the YouTube will be coming at a future date there. The ACTS

Luigi PIssani  1:17:29

I mean, the ACTS. But right now there's the if you just like I think type my name in Luigi Pissani M.S. on on YouTube might be able to find my channel right now the channel is called The Art of inner peace. Yeah. And then on LinkedIn, it's just Luigi, Pisani wellness, you can find me there too, as well. It's simple.

Bridget Moroney  1:17:47

And then what if What if people want to learn more about fe:al and some of the programs and offerings that that you all have there? What's What's the website?

Luigi PIssani  1:17:57

Yeah, so the website is www dot fealteory.com FEAL there's no colon on that one. Because it's a website, and then the way the website is set up, is just these video courses where they vary in length, the corporate ones that I have are a minute long, and then the lifestyle ones that I have can be like up to five minutes long, but it's broken down into three sections, which are the three pillars of fe:al. And each one of those pillars, whether you're a person that is, you know, in that rehabilitative side, right, but you're working your way back, whatever part of the body, it is, like we got something for you there, right, like head to toe, if you are a person that's just starting off their like sort of strength journey. And you will you are picking up the dumbbells but again, you want to figure out what else can you do with them outside of just the typical, you know, things that you'll see in a magazine or whatever, boom, that's, that's there for you as well. And in the last one is the one that's just for the people that are just like, hey, you know what, I just need a relaxation technique. I just need something that's just going to help me just level out a little bit. You know, wherever I am, it's all kind of laid out. They're not very expensive on the website. Right now. That's the whole The whole point is is trying to keep it in that open in that open access, you know, sort of way for everyone.

Bridget Moroney  1:19:22

I love it. Yeah. Something for everyone and definitely, you know, accessible to too many for many. So yeah, awesome. Thank you so much again for for this conversation and just kind of sharing all your thoughts and experiences Luigi, it's always a pleasure to speak with you and yeah, definitely. Let's not let it have to be so long before it's so happy. You're doing this. I am so happy. Thank you. Thank you. I am I am to it's it's been. It's a really fun gig. I'm not gonna lie because I get to have great conversations with people like yourself and I learned just as much as anyone who's listening so it's, yeah, it's it's pretty. It's pretty fulfilling and enjoyable. It's, I without a doubt enjoy it.

Luigi PIssani  1:20:11

As long as the conversations keep happening, right, the consciousness consciousness itself and people will continue to expand. You know, honestly, that's that's just something you really don't put a price on. So yeah, thank you for having me on your channel. So excited to share it as well. Sure.

Bridget Moroney  1:20:29

Thank you. Alright, that's all for today's show. Thank you so much again for listening. And be sure to head over to aspire to coaching.com backslash podcast, check out the show notes for today's episode. There, you'll find some of the links we've mentioned on today's podcast, as well as some of the previous episodes we've done. And while you're there, please make sure you sign up for our show updates. I am always updating the show and bringing in bonus content. So you do not want to miss out on any of that. One last thing. If you loved this episode, and you think a friend would really enjoy it as well, grab the link and share it out for me please. It really does help spread the word of this podcast and the topics that we discussed on our episodes. And at the end of the day. My goal is to empower as many people on their performance journey as possible. Thank you all so much again, and we'll see you next time.