self-regulation – ZacCupples.com

August 25, 2019 Zac Cupples

Costa Rica Beginner’s Mind 2019 Retreat Review

Where can you combine learning, disengaging from life, connection, beach, sun, hiking, and so much more? That’s what Ben House has created with his Beginner’s Mind Retreat at Flō Retreat Center. A place where one can achieve all of the above and more. This trip marked the second time I’ve been here, and for good reason. It gives me the opportunity to personally recalibrate from the hectic work lifestyle I’ve grown accustomed too, while taking time out to better myself in more ways than one. This year’s retreat brought together several bright minds in the health and fitness realms, discussing topics ranging from training, mitochondria, stress, and more. The retreat is set up into two different weeks. The first week was functional medicine-oriented. After a three day break of chillin’ like Bob Dylan, the strength and conditioning week finished things off. The best part of this retreat is that learning is only one component. The lectures took up the morning, then the rest of the day was yours. You get time to train, go to the beach, hike, jump off of cliffs, eat good food, or just chill and play board games. The best part of this retreat is the people you encounter. It can be hard in our industry to find like-minded folks who live the lifestyle that fam like us live. But at Flo, healthy living is the norm. The people I’ve met at Ben’s place are people who I consider to be friends for a lifetime. That’s

April 14, 2019 Zac Cupples

The Revolution: A Deep Dive into Antifragility Course Review

Antifragility is beyond resilience or robustness. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better. ~ Nassim Taleb, “Antifragile” That was the crux of the The Revolution: A Deep Dive into Antifragility. How do we, as health and fitness professionals, help our clientele improve with the stressors we impart? How do we take clients from various starting points—be it an immobile person in persistent pain, a complete beginner, or a high level athlete—and push them towards their goals? That’s what made this experience unique, as the three presenters, Seth Oberst, myself, and Pat Davidson, sought to create a continuum. For Seth, it was starting with the most fragile. Pat’s goal was to push performance to the highest level, to not survive, but thrive. While I aimed to be the middle ground; establishing the principles of movement common amongst all people. And I want to share the highlights with you. While biased, I thought this was a unique experience. Though we all came at the deep dive from different angles, there were many commonalities shared. Enjoy! Self Regulation – Seth Oberst As mentioned in a previous post, self regulation is the intrinsic ability to response to internal/external stressors with an efficient range of responses. There are three keys to demonstrating self-regulatory capabilities: Differentiating safety vs danger Responsivity Completion (Resolving the situation). Trauma, an unresolved defense pattern, negatively impacts these keys. To remedy this situation, we must reestablish each of these areas in a manner that promotes self-regulation. Providing