Building blocks to living well with Nam Baldwin

Nam Baldwin has over 28 years of experience in the health, fitness and well-being industries across the globe. He specialises in emotional & physiological intelligence as well as peak performance. The magic of what Nam’s work achieves is how he simplifies the complicated science between brain and body to achieve performance and wellness.

3.30 - Dealing with adversity and how the breath is key

When it comes to dealing with and managing stress & pressure, the breath is one of the simplest techniques you can teach people to use. It’s one thing that’s in your control when so many things are out of your control.

5.15 - This technique can challenge you but give you quick rewards such as being calmer under pressure and getting yourself into the right state, as pressure unfolds you have greater bandwidth to work with to calm the mind.

6.30 - When your heart rate is through the roof it’s hard to think well, but with good breathing practices you can start to drop the heart rate and access the mental side better.

The power of your breath can open up calmness, and a sense of control and remove the difficulty when your heart rate is through the roof, it takes the edge off. Youll lean into challenges rather than being threatened by them

7.45 - At an individual level what do you see as the key fundamental pillars to living well?

Having pillars in place builds the foundations you need to have a healthy body and mind. This starts with breathing as it’s the first thing that changes when we get stressed. 

9.30 - Other pillars include quality sleep, and how we wind down to get that to happen. You have to go through a process to get yourself in a state ready for sleep: 

Time in daylight is another pillar, 10 minutes before 10 am instigates and activates hormones to allow your brain to come alive.

Connection is such an important pillar, having a sense of connection with peers and community.

Shaun says, “Sometimes people think it’s complicated and overwhelming but when you break it into blocks you can see it’s achievable. Simple things you can bring into your life to build habits for change.”

11.40 - Having a good routine in morning is important to set our day up for success. Our brains love consistency and certainty, those little hits build over time to be the foundation of how you are going to feel. 

12.45 - The ability to build optimism

Recognise what kind of way of thinking we have around certain circumstances/situations and be self-aware as to where we sit. The optimistic view is that things will work out for the better. 

How do we build Optimism? Get into a state of feeling good about yourself regularly as that helps you think good and see the good. Reflect at the end of the day as to things that have gone well, it trains your brain to recognise them and become normal to see the good.

Researching amazing things gives us perspective on how we exist in life, there are good things that are occurring each day in the way we operate and it helps to build optimism. 

15.00 Being mindful about the way you’re thinking to have the capacity to minimise negative thinking. Self-regulate where your thoughts are, this will help silence your inner critic. 

Gratefulness is part of that reflection, it helps to rewire and program your brain then it becomes a default to see the solution rather than the negative. Brains are programmed to look for fear/threats. 

18 - Gratitude is one of the most powerful things to employ. We need to be aware that there is a narrative behind what we’re grateful for. That’s what develops areas of the brain to increase the capacity to be aware of being more optimistic and remove self-critic. 

19.20 - The state of your body impacts the state of your mind:

The vagus nerve helps us build the capacity in our mind to experience different stages such as calmness throughout our body and mind. If a threat happens this nerve will help stimulate flight or fright. If exposed to too much stress you minimise the capacity to feel a state of calm. 

21.00 - Build up vagal tone or fitness where you can coach yourself to come through a state of stress. You do have control over it. 

23.25 - Exercise burns bad chemistry:

Bad energy can get stored if you don’t do anything about it. Ideally, you want to burn off that energy and reset the chemical explosion so it doesn’t repeat itself later. Have a Moment of Movement and mindfulness every hour. Calm your mind down to access creativity. 

26 - Key tips on dealing with anxiety and reducing impact of it

• Be aware of when you’re going into levels of stress and anxiety and not cover it up with coping mechanisms such as looking at your phone or eating etc. Label your emotion and don’t try using something else to diminish feeling, name it to tame it. 
• Movement on top will help reduce/burn up the chemistry of the adrenaline
• A little bit of exposure to what is triggering your anxiety is a powerful thing. Go into things that create anxiety for you, to gently trigger and gently expose yourself to them. The challenges and fears, and within that time and space use your tools to hold composure. Gently build a familiarity for your body to experience it. 
• Shying away from challenges, within reason, will help and regulate your response 
• Emotion generally only last 90 seconds so if you can pause in the first 6 seconds, the logical part of your brain will come on board rather than you just reacting. 
• Make better choices rather than getting stuck in them. Provoke your own conscious mind to think of a solution.

30.30 - Exposure therapy 

Nam speaks about Mick Fanning being attacked by a great white shark and then starting a shark documentary. It was a huge part of his value and purpose. Give it time, and make meaning of your challenge so that you can then use the suffering. The meaning is what helps you get through the suffering and will develop into a courageous person in your own right. 

Manage how kids respond to emotions. They don’t have the hardware or software to manage it. 

33.00 - Limiting beliefs - what are they and how do they get us to where we want to be? 

Limiting beliefs are what holds us back. The first step is to realise you have a limiting belief and then decide what you’d want instead. We have them because our brain loves certainty and we think we need that to make us feel safe. We need to embrace the understanding that life is built hugely on living on the edge.

What beliefs do you need to install to break through to a new level? Recognise it’s okay to upgrade our beliefs

35.40 - How to change your beliefs

• Could be through journaling or understanding what gets you in the way of your progress and refining them. Challenge the beliefs not blame what’s around you. 
• Talking to people you know that are similar in their commitment and discipline 
• Stipulate how you want to be and where you want to be. Install a belief on how someone like that disciplines themselves. With discipline, you’ll break through your limited belief. 

38.30 - The notion of connection and what can help us perform well