Season 5 Finale: Wrapping Up Our Member Interview Series | Dean Pohlman | Better Man Podcast Ep. 126

Hey guys, it’s Dean. Welcome to the Better Man podcast. Today is a special solo episode. I am wrapping up this season of the better Man podcast and the member interviews that we have been doing. So I started doing these member interviews because I just wanted to share what realistic health journeys look like, rather than you hearing it from an expert or someone who is a content creator or, you know, has some sort of business or platform of their own.

I wanted to talk with everyday guys who were making improvements to their health and understand from that place of authenticity, what are you guys doing to get healthier? And you know what we found through these interviews of guys who are in their 40s, 5060s, their late 30s, maybe some in their 70s as well, is that most of these guys had some sort of significant event that led them to make a change.

They finally got to this point where they said enough is enough, and they started making changes. And you’ll realize or you have realized, hopefully for most of these episodes, that they made the changes slowly. They made these changes incrementally. They made them in phases. They didn’t all of a sudden flick a switch and go from living on, you know, quote unquote unhealthy life to now living a very healthy lifestyle.

They just made small changes, small improvements over time that led to these dramatic results that led to these, you know, these improvements. And some of the results weren’t dramatic, right? Some of these guys didn’t lose 100 pounds. But I think for most of these guys, what you’ll hear is that their overall quality of life has improved significantly. You know, they might not look like a fitness model in the mirror, but they look the way that they look, the way that feels more healthy to them.

They look a way in which they feel more confident and they’re living healthier lives. So I hope you guys really enjoyed the member interviews that we did. I am planning on doing more, next season. I plan on doing kind of a combination of solo episodes, which like, like I’ve done in the past, like this one right now with member interviews and also expert interviews.

So I’m going to try and do all of them. Right. We’ll just kind of keep this going. And you know, honestly, the member interviews didn’t do as well as some of the expert interviews. But they did really well within the man flow yoga community. And that’s ultimately who I am making this podcast for. I’m not trying to get the Better Man podcast ranked on a top ten list somewhere.

I’m trying to create a podcast that helps the men in our community dive deeper into their overall health and wellness to go beyond just exercise and fitness, and go into mental wellness. Go into spiritual wellness to form deeper connections with one another, to be given the tools and the inspiration, to form deeper connections with the people in their own lives and their own loved ones.

Because fitness is only one part of the picture in our overall health, right? We work out, we take care of ourselves because we want to have a more fulfilling, you know, a more enjoyable, a more connected life. And if we don’t do all the other stuff in addition to working out, then it’s it’s kind of all for naught.

So, and this episode, you know, in addition to kind of recapping it, I wanted I actually asked the community, I asked like, hey, what have you guys found most helpful from, from these interviews that we’ve been doing? And I pulled them up here. I’m just kind of read them off. So these are coming from a combination of the mental yoga community on Facebook as well as, the community section within the man for yoga app and members area, which is pretty much brand new.

We have a new updated, man for yoga app and members area. We’ll talk about that in a little bit. But now we have a community section where we can have these conversation. So if you’re not on Facebook or if you just again, want to have the communicate conversations the same place that you’re doing the workouts, then that’s available.

So I’ll start in the community section. So Leon says it highlights to me. So the question here that I asked is, for those of you who have listened to this latest podcast season featuring member stories, how have these interviews helped you the most? And Leon said, it highlights to me that we all have challenges to overcome. We are in different points of our journeys and that’s why we are in this grown path, in this growth path.

Together we can support each other to become better in our fitness and in our lives. Richard, Richard says every member story includes things we can directly relate to. That happens to me too, quote unquote, is like a broken record in my brain when I hear the scenarios told, I feel like I’m part of something big and real and worthwhile, Patrick says.

For me, it’s the strength and the vulnerability that everyone shows. I find that so inspiring. Being able to hear your own story in someone else helps to feed the feeling of, is it just me? David said in the latest one. I like the comment about weeding out all the voices. I’m trying to do many things and I need to pare down and focus on a few things.

Yeah, I mean, I love these comments. First and foremost, I think the vulnerability, right? Something that I really like about what we do with the Better Man podcast is we don’t just talk about being vulnerable, we actually practice being vulnerable on these interviews, too. You know, when I have people on the show, you know, I practice vulnerability.

I try to get the guests to practice vulnerability. And these guys also practicing vulnerability. So I think that’s something that we can all do more of in our lives, especially in the conversations that we have with people who we can trust. It doesn’t work with everybody. You know, I, I’ve realized that, vulnerability conversations are best safe for people who are in your life, like your loved ones are close friends.

You don’t need to do it with, like, you know, the the the person at the cash register because it just kind of comes off weird. But like, for the people who are the close ones in your life, you know, that’s where I think it’s really powerful. And then the other thing here, I think, and this is something that we hear in the community all the time, but it’s, it’s this idea of, of recognizing that you are not alone in this.

Right. So recognizing that you are you there’s nothing wrong with you recognizing like, oh, this guy’s going through the same thing that I’m going through now. And so is this guy, and so is this other guy. And so there’s such power in being able to, you know, recognize that you are going through the same thing as someone else.

And I love that we’ve been able to to highlight that within the community. And I also listed this, I also listed this question within the Facebook group. And so we’ve got some answers there. And I’ll read off some of them. So, again, Matt kind of reiterated this. It’s always nice to hear that others go through similar struggles.

And it’s nice to hear the expert interviews as well. Both have their place. Kevin says, knowing that there are guys just like you going through similar things, it’s great to also have met some of these guys in person at the workshops I attended and know that they are down to earth, normal guys. It just gives you motivation knowing success is possible.

Been awesome listening to everyone’s story. Yeah. Kevin came to our most recent event in Austin. We are doing more events this year, so if you guys are interested in joining me, I’m going to be, doing a weekend workshop series in Austin. May 3rd to May 4th. Also doing, also doing Los Angeles June 7th to June 8th.

And we’re looking at a DC venue in the fall. Going on, John says, I always find that I walk away with something new that I learn from each episode. Sometimes I’m very inspired by the story told, and other times I just might pick up a nutrition or exercise tip. It’s amazing how mental yoga has helped so many individuals with serious injuries and illnesses, and I can personally attest to the benefits of mental yoga since I am a heart failure and COPD patient.

While I enjoy member interviews, I also miss the previous format where you discussed with, where you collaborated with others and talked about physical and mental health issues. Yeah. Thanks, John. And again, we are going to be back some of those extra interviews. I’ve already started recording them. So yeah, those are on the way. David says, appreciates the openness and vulnerability expressed in each interview and how it’s a reflection of each man’s journey and how this community has been support to them.

All inspiring from Dan. Relatable. Great to know a bit more about each individual. Chris says he liked that you’re hearing stories from regular people, not experts, telling you what you should do. And Sandy also said, it’s great to hear these real world stories. And I respect the fact that people have been honest enough to talk about the histories.

And on a simpler level, it’s also good to be able to put voices to faces. Yeah. So, I really like all this feedback, and I want to thank everyone for for being part of this for, not just being on the episodes. If you are someone who interviewed, who was interviewed, but also for having conversations around this episode again, I really created this podcast with the goal of it’s supporting, the community of man for yoga.

And so it’s really cool to see that, that it’s done that. So yeah, so that’s kind of a wrap on, on this season. I do want to tell you what’s going on with the mantle yoga and give you some things of what’s what’s on the horizon, things to come. So, big members, area updates. So we just launched, the last and almost two weeks ago, as of the recording of this video, we just launched a, a pretty significant update to the Mantle Yoga app and members area.

There’s a lot of big changes. There’s a lot of improvements. Some of the features have also been modified. Basically, the big reason for this change is we wanted to make things simpler. We wanted to have technically, we wanted to have synchronization across all platforms so that anything you do in one version of the app will be reflected in the other.

And we also wanted to be able to have more community features. So like that community, basically we have a community forum, kind of like this mini version of Facebook now within the app, but we also have the ability to do live events. Right? Now within the new app and members area. So there’s a bunch of other changes.

There’s a ton of other changes that actually took the better part of three months, to make all these updates and make all these improvements. But if you haven’t been in the member’s area lately, I highly encourage you to take a look. Go to Mental yoga.com/join. Start a free seven day trial. You can cancel at the end of seven days if you hate it.

But yeah, I want to encourage you to, take a look. I’ve also been doing some recordings and some lives to walk people through it. So if you’re used to the previous members area, I have live videos, or previously live videos, that you can watch where I go through all the features and the new layout and kind of explain it in a bit more depth.

So yeah, there’s that as well, but big members, area updates, and I’m really excited at what this will do for, the, for the community just in terms of, you know, improved, community, options and, you know, and live events, but also hopefully simplifying it and just making it less overwhelming for people, making it simpler about, you know, okay, you start here, then you do this, then you go here and hopefully making it less confusing, so that people can just have a great experience and be consistent with their workouts.

So, I’ve also, you know, been going through, my own changes. I, I, I’ve been doing a lot of, you know, work on my own, a switch therapist that I started doing, I started doing somatic therapy, somatic experience, which has been, really awesome. One day I’ll also talk about a, a journey that I took.

That’s what they call it in this, in this, in this, in this, in this industry. But, I, I accidentally took a, a macro dose of a micro dose of, of mushrooms. And, that was an experience. So maybe one day I’ll talk about that. And, all the positive changes that went through that, but also the reality of it was also having panic attacks that happened after the fact.

And admittedly not doing it in a controlled, not a controlled environment as much as I would like to. But the end result being being really good for my own, health as well as my relationships around me, but not without its challenges. So that was a that was an experience. And, also looking forward to doing more community and in-person events within and for yoga world.

Again, we’ve got one coming up in May in Austin. I’m going to be doing a June event here, in Los Angeles. And I’m looking at doing, a fall event in Washington, DC. I’m also going to be at the Fit Father Project live event. It is a weekend, August 29th to 31st in Phoenix, Arizona.

That’s going to be a really cool event. If your focus is on sustainable weight loss, you’re really your goal is losing weight. That’s an amazing community that we do a lot of work with. Anthony Bell does, Doctor Anthony Bell does. He is a good friend of mine. We are friends even outside of, you know, even outside of the work that we do together.

And I really, really like what he’s doing there. And I’m excited to be a part of this event, that they’re doing, in Phoenix at the end of August. So, that’s what you guys have to, look forward to. If you guys are already part of Mantle yoga, hopefully you are, you know, enjoying the new updates.

Hopefully you’re staying consistent with your workouts, having conversations with the community. I look forward to seeing you guys in there and very active there, as you guys already know. So, say hi and, I hope you’re enjoying this podcast as well, if you haven’t already. I highly encourage, and I also kindly request that you’ll leave a review for the podcast.

You can do that on Apple Podcast on Spotify. We also have video versions of this podcast, which you can watch within the man for yoga app and members area, or on the Betterment Podcast YouTube channel. So I don’t want to draw this out any longer than it needs to. Guys, thank you so much for being part of, this community.

Thank you so much for supporting the Betterment podcast. I hope you really enjoyed these interviews that we’ve been doing with members over the past few months. And as I said at the beginning of pretty much the onset of each interview that I did, this isn’t just meant to be a plug for man, for yoga. This is more focused on, you know, what is the realistic, what is what is the actual story of what happened, of how you improved your health.

And I really hope that those stories have inspired you, to make changes and hopefully have given you ideas about, you know, but not just ideas on the practical implementation, but also the inspiration, to be able to take that and recognize, hey, you’ve got a story that’s similar to somebody else’s and you are not alone. So thanks, guys, again for being part of this.

I hope this inspires you to be a better man. I’ll see you on the next episode. Bye.

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