We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rashad Sanders. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rashad below.
Rashad, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
I found my purpose in the midst of some of the most traumatic moments of my life. The pain that I felt for years for what was done to me, altered the course of my life. I learned at a very early age how to avoid addressing the pain. I was taught that what I could physically see and feel from the pain was something that never happened. If it never happened then it was something that could never be mentioned outside of the home. I learned how to lie with no emotion just to cover up how I really felt. As I grew older I learned new ways to suppress the pain and survive the terrifying thoughts that would cloud my mind at night. Using the pain to fuel my motor for locating my purpose. There will come a time in every humans life, like it did for me, that they will have to face the pain head on.
We have the power to choose if the pressure we feel from pain will push us down or build us up. Pain will push you. Pain will pull you. Pain will produce purpose and it will also produce pressure, based on the perspective you choose to approach pain with. Pain will produce power. Power that will heal you from the inside out or destroy you. How you, me and everyone reading this article navigate the unresolved pain in their life, will determine the depth of growth and healing one will experience individually or collectively. The purpose behind my pain became more clear when I released the shame and guilt of what I did and what was done to me. Self-mastery became and still is a daily task of rewiring my mind, will, emotions, heart and body. Being mindful that every passing moment of life is a gift from God and can be used to push me further in my purpose or pull me back. The only thing I’ve been able to control on my way to purpose, is my response to the situations that arise from memories pain causes. In time anything that causes pain will heal and leave a scar. Every scar on my body has a story. A proud story. A sad story. A funny story. An I don’t remember story. The scar my unresolved hurt left me required a special set of skills to get over that I realized where already on the inside of me. When I was able to acknowledge the hurt and what it did to me, the pain started to minimize and healing began. The more I’ve healed, the more my purpose has become more clear. The clearer my purpose has become the story behind my pain carries more meaning for the generations after me. We all have a different rhythm for how journey through the pains of life. I honor and respect the pace at which you choose to work through your pain.
Life is not about fulfilling ones purpose, it’s the journey that molds us, not the destination. Once I embraced the journey, I began to live from purpose and I’m enjoying the flow!
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I am a natural body builder, yoga and mindfulness teacher with over 20 years experience as a personal trainer. I am also a father to the most amazing little boy. I am an empathetic healer and at my best, I am incredibly aware of what others need and I’m able to empathize with any person or situation. The nature of Mindful Muscle is to shine the light of awareness into the darkest corners of the body, mind and soul to exercise the muscle of attention to the present moment. My mission is to aid individuals in understanding the balance between mental and physical health with intentional breath and movements from various fitness modalities.
What I feel is most exciting about Mindful Muscle is the partnership formed with The Black Man Project, Sandcastle Psych and ’82 Purple to create safe spaces for men of color to improve and heal themselves. We meet twice a month as a group to offer free therapy to any BIPOC man in the city that needs to share his voice. I’ve been able to lead yoga and meditation sessions for BIPOC men that have never been exposed to the healing practices. Mindful Muscle is launching quarterly mental health pop-ups for men across the city. Emphasizing the importance of self-care as a man while maintaining a healthy emotional and physical lifestyle. As the Wellness Advisor for The Black Man Project, I look forward to exposing more men to healing practices that extend life.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
In no particular order, these are the attributes that have been the most impactful along my journey…
Discipline – The major force for any change that has happened during my life has been determined by the development of discipline. It is discipline that has transformed my passion into a fuel reserve for self determination and self regulation. It’s the little things that I’ve done consistently over the years that have led to my successes.
Gratitude – I honestly do not know how any human can wake up with breath in their body each morning and not be grateful. Each day I rise I am grateful for another day to wake up with life in my body, breath in my lungs and the ability to move without any limitations or restrictions. It’s easy to show gratitude when everything in life is going well. When my life hit rock bottom, remaining grateful shifted me into a higher frequency and I started attracting better things. No matter how bad life gets, someone else is going through the same thing or is experiencing something worse.
Faith – I would not be where I am in life if it wasn’t for my faith. Belief in myself and those that came before me that believed my success was possible. Every waking day my faith is challenged and I choose to believe that something good can always happen and is happening in any given moment. My greatest power is my capacity to choose who and what I put my faith in. As a result happiness and abundance has flowed.
Reading is the advice I would give to those who are early in their journey to discovering their purpose. The mind is a playground of possibilities that can be ignited from knowledge contained in books. Don’t just read any book, read ones that are intentional and vital to your development as a contributing catalyst to society. Books that help you understand yourself better, those you interact with and the field or industry you seek mastery in.
The last piece of advice I would give is to journal daily. Answering these two questions every day for the rest of your life
1. What did I learn today?
2. Who did I help today?
Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?
What Happened To You? Conversations On Trauma, Resilience And Healing by Bruce D. Perry, M.D., Ph.D and Oprah Winfrey is one book that has played an important role in my development. Here are a few of the most valuable nuggets of wisdom I obtained in the pages…
– “Our life experiences shape the way key systems in our brain organize and function” Each brain is unique and we all see and understand the world differently based on our personal history. The good or bad interactions with people, the places we have been or the things we have seen since birth, have influenced the brain’s development. ‘From birth, your heart is constantly sending messages about the state of your well-being. It’s intimately attuned to the slightest shifts in your physical and emotional health and when it sends out a warning, every part of you feels the effect.’ Oprah Winfrey
– “Rhythm is essential to a healthy body and a healthy mind. Every person in the world can probably think of something rhythmic that makes them feel better: walking, swimming, music, dance, the sounds of waves breaking on a beach… Everyone has their go-to options when they feel out of sync, anxious or frustrated. The common element is rhythm. Rhythm is regulating.’ Dr. Perry.
Lifting weights and yoga are the rhythmic movements I use to self regulate.
– “Therapy is more about building new associations, making new, healthier default pathways. It is almost as if therapy is taking your two-lane dirt road and building a four-lane freeway alongside it. The old road stays, but you don’t use it anymore. Therapy is building a better alternative, a new default. And that takes repetition, and time; honestly, it works best if someone understands how the brain changes. This is why understanding how trauma impacts our health is essential for everyone.” Dr. Perry
Regular therapy allowed me to better understand my trauma and it’s impact on my life despite being committed to a healthy lifestyle for more than half my life. Once the light bulb went off, I went from coping to healing,
Contact Info:
- Website: https://mindfulmuscle.durable.co/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_mindfulmuscle/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rsanders0308/
Image Credits
Forrest Job Shawna Edoo
