Defying Circumstances Through Inner Conviction: The Sapeurs


When you think of who you are and what you’re made of, the implication is to go big. Embody extraordinary and you will achieve. And that’s the American mantra that teaches us, “go big, or go home,” “work hard, play hard” mentalities. But today I wanted to focus on a small group of men in the Congo that are not about being big anything. They’re just a cool group of men that defy circumstances on a daily basis, to bring hope and inspiration to those around them.

“I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul.”

Meet The Sapeurs–members of the Congolese society, a group of men united by style but bonded by an underlining moral code of inspiring others by example. I came across an article about them on Co.Create. The Sapeurs are “all about defying your circumstances through inner conviction–something which though small, is totally unique to human beings and extraordinary in its own right.” I like that mentality, not just for style, but for living a healthy life. I like the idea of celebrating people who put more into life to get more out of it. That’s the type of coach I want to embody everyday–a person who inspires their athlete to put their all into their effort, not because they’ll win but because they’ll get more out of life by going outside their boundaries. And as The Sapeurs remind us, it doesn’t have to be a big effort. It can be a small moment, a microsecond during competition where you think, “huh, why not change my frame of mind; do it not to be better personally, but to inspire others around me to be better.”

Here are a few tidbits from their life and how they succeed in living it:

  1. you have to mix it up
  2. look up to your elders
  3. it’s not about money
  4. it’s not the cost, but the man inside
  5. respect others
  6. be polite, not vulgar
  7. peace

When there is peace, there’s The Sape. When there is peace, there is life. You can always choose who you are.

 

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The Body You Want

Ever wonder why you can’t change certain parts of your body when you exercise? It may be a lack of body awareness. Research shows that lack of body awareness creates an inability to engage muscle, and this awareness is an important tool in progress changes in your body. If there’s a certain part of your body that is especially challenging and just won’t budge, it may be because you are not activating the muscles that encompass it properly.

Tips for improving body awareness:

1) Start With Pressure; Notice where your body contacts the earth. For example, in this bow pose, my foot is in contact and is supporting my entire (5’10!) frame. That’s a lot of strength in that little foots. It’s all because I am applying pressure evenly across the four corners of my foot, and I am able to do this because I am cognizant of the muscular contractions in my foot.

2) Change Your Posture; Until you feel the proper activation, keep moving your body to a different position. For example, on my body, my left abdominal wall is weaker than my right, so I need a different angle to properly engage all my obliques and anterior abs. If I change the angle I am working in while engaging my left side, I get the same work done as my right.

3) Engage Your Multifidus; Remember those tiny muscles that support your spine I spoke of so lovingly last week? Yep, they’re integral in allowing you to engage all your muscles eloquently. Instead of over using the major muscle groups and getting bigger and bulkier because you lack the foundational strength of the multifidus, try working on pelvic tiles and engagement FIRST before you do any other exercise. I start my day with my multifidus pelvic tilts and ab exercises, then move on to other exercises that engage the larger muscle groups.

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The Power Poses

We know our minds change our bodies. But do our bodies change our minds?

 

 

 

 

Powerful people typically are assertive, confidant, optimistic, risk takers, tend to think more abstractly. Physiologically they have more testosterone (dominance hormone) and less cortisol (stress hormone). High power alpha males in nature have high testosterone and low cortisol and powerful and effective leaders also have high testosterone and low cortisol.

Amy Cuddy describes her 2 min experiment;

“this is what we did; we decided to bring people into a blast and ronaldo experiment and these people adopted for two minutes either high-power opposes or low-power poses.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

The results

High Power Poses produced a 20% increase in testosterone (dominance hormone) and a 25% decrease in cortisol (stress hormone).

Low Power Poses produced a 10% decrease in testosterone (dominance hormone) and a 15% decrease in cortisol (stress hormone).

Simply expanding your body for two minutes produces very significant increases in your hormonal levels. These hormones are the same hormones that drive our confidence and our success in many cases. Amy Cuddy makes a strong case for the body’s ability to influence the way we think. Simply faking a motion for two minutes can convince you that you do belong, you can be successful and that you are powerful.

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