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  • Dan Morgan / Q&A

    16th February 2017

    16th February 2017

    By Shivraj Bassi

    Dan is a full-time yoga teacher based in the UK who aims to help people find balance in their lives through his focus on the physical and mental benefits of health and fitness. We sat down with him to find out more, and to ask some nosey questions.

    “I remember my parents taking me to my first karate class when I was 3 years old, which was where my health and fitness journey probably began. Ever since I've always been involved in lots of different physical activities. Internal and external health is important to me, and my love for it has continued to grow creating a space for me to find clarity and focus. Yoga combined the love I had for developing physically and mentally, stripping away all of the “stuff” that seemed to get in the way. My focus on health, fitness and yoga has allowed me to build a strong, mobile and physically capable body, and allowed me to understand myself on a deeper level. As much as I love movement and physical activity, I also love to chill out. And as much as I love to fuel my body with nutritiously dense and whole foods, sometimes I like a little junk food! It’s all about striking a balance that works for you.”

    Favourite Innermost products, and why?

    The Strong Protein. Strength training plays a huge part in my training week-to-week, and this blend helps keep my internal vitality in check - beneficial for when I’m in the gym as I train, and also as I recover between workouts. The Detox Booster. My teaching schedule is full of late evenings and early mornings, and I always seem to be on the go. This is a great product as it helps support my general well-being, vitality and immunity. Keeping me fit and healthy throughout my week. 

    What's your hustle?

    I’m on a journey to help others discover their true selves. I’m currently a full-time yoga teacher, and training to become a transformational coach. I don’t think the journey will stop here. I have visions to combine these qualifications, and to transition into bigger things... watch this space.

    What does #liveinnermost mean to you?

    To me, it's about coming to truly understand yourself - your needs, your wants, your desires, your dreams. Then choosing to be unapologetic, and authentic in living the life you wish to lead. Living a life that aligns fully with your core identity, with your true values - without concern for what others may think or feel about it

    What do you do to maintain a healthy lifestyle?

    I teach roughly 16-22 hours a week of yoga and movement. This in itself keeps me moving a bunch! I also do my own personal strength and mobility training on top of that - a mix of yoga, calisthenics, mobility training and olympic lifting roughly three to five times a week. I also do asana (physical yoga postures), meditate, and do pranayama (breathing practices) daily. Nutrition and diet also plays a large part in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. I eat a varied diet of nutritious whole foods, get six to eight hours sleep a night minimum, and drink plenty of water.

    Usual breakfast?

    Starter: Grapefruit, tangerine or figs, and a smoothie with plenty of fibre. Main: Two or three eggs (poached, fried or scrambled) with a whole avocado mashed with raw red onion, a couple cloves of garlic, and some diced cherry tomatoes finished with a side of some lightly cooked beetroot. Drink: Water. Plenty of it.

    What's your happy place?

    Cornwall - as close to Land's End as you can get. I have so many fond and nostalgic memories of being there. From way back when building sand castles right up to last summer, sat at the pub with my family in the sun enjoying a cool drink overlooking the sea. It's a place I return to regularly, and it feels like home. In fact, its been too long since my last trip...

    Who or what motivates you?

    There are so many people that motivate me, the list would be very long. I think it’s so important that we're also able to motivate ourselves, for ourselves - and this is something I’m practicing daily. Whenever I struggle with motivation, I remind myself why it is that I’m doing what I’m doing. I remind myself of the purpose. And I try to find greatness in the moment. This may not happen 100% of the time, and thats fine - all that matters, is getting back on track when I stumble.

    Book currently on your bedside table?

    I currently have two books on my bedside table. "The obstacle is the way" by Ryan Holiday and "Inner Engineering: A yogis guide to joy" by Jaggi Vasudev. Both amazing reads - I couldn’t recommend them highly enough!

    Current fitness goal?

    Currently I’m working towards a few things - full planche, one arm pull-ups, and a one arm handstand. These are ongoing projects, and have been for a while. They are requiring me to master patience but I’m really loving the challenge. And I’m absorbing everything that I’m learning about myself and the skills themselves along the way.

    Where do you see yourself in three years? Be bold!

    Developing my business "dcmlifestyle" on a larger scale - combining yoga, coaching, therapy, physical therapy and holistic development. I then aim to use my experience in these skills to create various workshops, trainings and retreats across the globe. My hope is to build a community of like-minded individuals that I can collaborate with to bring this vision to life.

    Need some more of Dan? Check him out on Instagram (@dcmlifestyle) and his website (www.dcmlifestyle.com). 

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    On Resolutions And Staying Authentic With Anj Magecha
    We sat down with Innermost Insider and mindful wellness advocate Anj Magecha, who shares how she stays on track with new goals and habits whilst remaining true to herself, and what to do when faced with setbacks. Hey Anj! Can you introduce yourself to our readers? Hey everyone, I’m Anj! I’m a 24 year old wellness geek working in consulting. I’m all about navigating life in London, trying to find a balance in my approach to nutrition, exercise and socialising, and improving my mental health and personal development 1% at a time. (And hopefully helping other people do the same!)  How did you become an Innermost Insider and what’s your goal as an ambassador for the brand? I’ve been a Innermost user since I joined F45 TCR in 2018, I was new to the gym, vegan, and in need of some serious protein intake to pack on muscle— at a time where most vegan protein powders were a bit rubbish! I also run on caffeine and hate coffee so got hooked on the pre-workout to fuel going to the gym, uni, working at lululemon and a busy social life!  I joined the Insider program as soon as I was able to, and have seen so much growth for the brand since then! I love all the extra merch, the sweatshirt and duffel are essential - so would love to see more of my go to gym bag essentials become Innermost 👀 Our topic this month is resolution. How would you personally define resolution and has it been a pivotal part of your life?  Resolution means taking control of your own life and making conscious choices that lead you towards the often intangible ‘better’. It's about having the determination and drive to create the future you want for yourself, and accepting the task of navigating the challenges that come your way. To me, resolution is about being true to myself and living with purpose. It's about not letting fear or doubt hold me back, but instead trusting in my own strength and abilities to overcome any obstacle even when it feels like it’s too difficult, or unfair. To be resolute requires a strong sense of self-discipline and self-control, as well as a clear vision of what you want to achieve. It requires a sense of resilience and adaptability, and the understanding that things sometimes get worse when they get better. Resolution has showed up for me in my journey with eating disorder recovery and weight restoration, with difficult conversations with therapists, even with holding boundaries with friends when sometimes it feels easier to let things slide. It’s not just about the big things! Ultimately, resolution is about living a life that is authentic, meaningful, and fulfilling. It's about having the conviction to pursue my passions and make a positive impact on the world around me. How do you go about setting goals in your life? So this is an interesting one. I suck at New Years resolutions. Or so I thought. With a background in disordered eating and a late diagnosis of ADHD I can retrospectively look back at some of my new years resolutions and understand why they felt so insurmountable.  To keep it brief, they were generally unrealistic, overly restrictive or prescriptive, and boring. And to be honest, sometimes goals aren’t going to be exciting.  I’ve read quite extensively around habit forming and achievement and currently quite like the 12 week year format (it’s a book, decent read but for a short version there’s a video on my TikTok!) The 12 week year has really resonated with me - it's all about focusing on what's most important and taking consistent, small steps towards achieving your goals over the course of three months, and then re-evaluating. So a year long goal gets broken into 4 three-month goals, then 12 one-month goals, and so on, until the minutiae of daily habits. It helps you focus on what matters most It keeps you accountable It allows for flexibility It helps you make progress faster Do you ever struggling with sticking to your goals and resolutions? How do you overcome setbacks? Overcoming setbacks in pursuit of your goals can be tough, but it's also an essential part of the journey towards success. Every challenge and obstacle presents an opportunity to learn, grow, and become stronger. I am a very emotionally driven person, when I get sad or anxious or I’m face with a negative life event, my goals are quite easily derailed. So for me it’s important to allow myself time to recuperate after a major setback, as it can be emotionally and physically draining to deal with challenges and obstacles. Taking a break to rest and recharge helps refocus and regain energy and motivation.I practice self-compassion and am not afraid to reach out for support when things feel overwhelming. I’m also a strong believer in setting boundaries for myself to protect my time and energy. Naturally some setbacks are less personal, things like the pandemic or tube strikes. In those cases I try to keep things in perspective: an old manager at lululemon used to say, at the end of the day, it’s just black stretchy pants and I apply that thinking to most areas of my life. Don't let setbacks define who you are or what you're capable of. Instead, use them as an opportunity to learn and grow. Are there certain times where you feel more motivated to set goals or resolutions? Naturally times like birthdays and new years have loads of messaging around goals and time passing, but in my experience I find birthday goals and new years goals are just that. They exist until I feel less festive and then things get difficult. I find the goals that come to me in the other 75% of the year are actually more in line with what makes me feel happy and healthy. The 12 week year method really helps facilitate this for me. Furthermore according to a study published in the journal Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, people are more likely to succeed in their goals when they start working towards them immediately, rather than waiting for a specific time (like the new year) to begin. When we set a goal, we often have a burst of motivation and energy that can drive us to take initial steps towards achieving it. By waiting to start working on our goals, we risk losing that initial motivation and energy, which can make it harder to get started. So why wait for the new year to make changes that will make you happy? What advice would you give to others about setting goals and resolutions for the future? Check in with yourself to make sure your goals are your own and not what you think people expect from you. And don’t be afraid to set goals that people aren’t going to see happen, there have been points in my life where my goal has been to get out of bed every day for a week and they were probably more difficult and transformative than any weight loss or fitness goal I’ve set for myself.  Do you have any important personal resolutions for the next year? I have some goals from my previous 12 week cycle, including the turf games in summer 2023 hopefully, which naturally lends itself to some commitments around training style and frequency.  I think saying no more often is a big one for me. Not to everything by any means but I do a lot of things that I think I ‘should’ do and I usually go in eyes wide open knowing it’ll leave me not feeling great. So hopefully this year I’ll have the resolve to just say no straight off the bat!  That's a wrap! To keep up with Anj, check out her Instagram and TikTok. Read more