Change The World Around You

By Damien Rider

There are three critical connections within our individual existence —the connection of breath, the connection to self, and the connection of movement.

Many times, you will hear someone say, "I lost my breath in that moment," "I can't move past it," or "I've lost my way." Something like, "I don't know how to get back on my path," is often said by these same people with panic in their voices, their breath short and rushed. At that time, a part of us feels frozen in the emotional moment with no calm or confident connection to our words or actions.

When you ask someone, "What are the most important elements of your life", they might say family, love, goals, or happiness. While all of these are valid and important, they are secondary to our existence's foundation and the autonomic nervous system and breathing rhythm. The stronger connection we have to our breath, the more we tend to feel the magic, beauty, and our connected purpose in life.

Our breath has been the life source that controls everything we do, including our emotions and movement, since our first breath of life. It establishes the connection to us, both inside and out. As we focus on connecting the breath to self, we keep moving forward with greater purpose, whatever our purpose might be. Whether it's making plans, setting goals, or creating and meeting challenges, that is how we make our connection with time most beneficial to our lives.

We push forward past good and bad events in our lives, and this is the process we all need to look at for ourselves, to see how we are moving forward, what did we do, how did it feel, what will we learn from it and how will we ultimately rise above it.

Two experiences are universally shared among all of us: we all have dreams, and we all have obstacles pop up as we chase our dreams. We can either overcome the obstacles to reach our dreams, or we can cave and feel frustrated or anxious. The feeling of failure causes our inner critic to bring forth a weight of negative self-talk and self-doubt, creating self-made, perceived obstacles that aren't really in front of us at all.
The 33 lessons in this book are:

● The sum of what has been learned and experienced both intuitively and science based.
● An understanding of all areas that add to our physical, mental, and emotional layers through life.
● What it means to keep moving forward and the bigger picture.
● At times a real and confronting look at ourselves to rebuild an infinite awareness and self-connection.

The lessons are the culmination of years of studying physical, mental, and emotional stress and trauma bringing awareness to why our conscious and subconscious gets stuck, and how we get past it. By studying and understanding the connection of breath, connection to self, and the connection of movement, we begin to process situations with a new perspective.

I am proud and excited to share these lessons with you!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Damien Rider
• Release date: Aug 16, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005447205

Damien Rider

Damien Rider, an Australian, had been tormented by his childhood memories every day, and this continued even into his adulthood, causing him great pain and triggering flashbacks that led to self-destructive behavior. Despite seeking help from various psychologists without success, Damien decided to take charge of his own healing journey, confront his inner demons, and find the answers he needed.This marked a new phase in Damien’s life, which began with his solo and unassisted 800km paddleboard adventure from Gold Coast to Bondi, and he became even more motivated to assist others who have faced trauma, abuse, or difficulties in their daily lives. He utilized extreme endurance events to purposely put himself through various physical and mental pain to understand how to overcome them and keep moving forward smoothly, he would use these events as a medium to spread his message to the world, and his accomplishments in this area are incredibly inspiring.He has broken multiple world records and achieved several world-first events, authored books, produced films, and is now a highly sought-after speaker, a life coach to many celebrities, and a recognized innovator and leader in wellness worldwide.Damien Rider is a multi-faceted individual with a diverse range of skills and accomplishments. As a Life Coach and Mindset Mentor, Damien helps his clients shift their focus from problems to solutions, empowering them to approach challenges with a positive and proactive mindset. He encourages clients to identify clear solutions and goals, rather than dwelling on the complexities of life.Damien’s expertise in neurophysiology, and his passion for men’s health, gained him multiple awards for his wellness programs. His achievements as an Adventure & Extreme Sports Athlete, his international humanitarian work, and his contributions to the field of meditation further demonstrate his dedication to helping others discover their full potential mentally and physically.

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

There are three critical connections within our individual existence —the connection of breath, the connection to self, and the connection of movement.

Many times, you will hear someone say, I lost my breath in that moment, I can't move past it, or I've lost my way. Something like, I don't know how to get back on my path, is often said by these same people with panic in their voices, their breath short and rushed. At that time, a part of us feels frozen in the emotional moment with no calm or confident connection to our words or actions. 

When you ask someone, What are the most important elements of your life, they might say family, love, goals, or happiness. While all of these are valid and important, they are secondary to our existence's foundation and the autonomic nervous system and breathing rhythm. The stronger connection we have to our breath, the more we tend to feel the magic, beauty, and our connected purpose in life. 

Our breath has been the life source that controls everything we do, including our emotions and movement, since our first breath of life. It establishes the connection to us, both inside and out. As we focus on connecting the breath to self, we keep moving forward with greater purpose, whatever our purpose might be. Whether it's making plans, setting goals, or creating and meeting challenges, that is how we make our connection with time most beneficial to our lives.

Over the years, studies have shown common tools that we use intuitively throughout life that allow us to remain calm under stressful situations to keep moving forward. The studies always came back to having control and understanding the ability to regulate the physical, mental, and emotional stress without having to stop for long periods to compose oneself. Being openly aware of the bigger picture by reconnecting to spatial awareness and expanding visions and perceptions. To look far beyond what is in front of us and wider than our peripheral vision. 

My thirty years in the fitness and wellness industry have allowed me to explore methods people use to manage physical, mental and emotional stress and their resources, which help them to keep moving forward. Humans have evolved with time as have stress, anxiety, trauma, PTSD, and physical excursion creating complex layers that can weigh people down. Often, it becomes what we see as the normal way to live and deal with daily situations as the layers continue to grow.  

Meditation has long been around and used by billions of people worldwide as a successful tool in calming the mind and physical being. Many of these methods require sitting for extended periods of time and practicing potentially for years to allow yourself to reach a calming state that can carry throughout your day and life's unexpected stressful situations.  

As an athlete and entrepreneur, I recognized that I didn't have the time to sit for 30-90 minutes to compose myself enough to continue my challenges. At times, I had to make split-second, sometimes life or death decisions. Through these challenges, I became more consciously aware of the connection to the bigger picture.  

A "Breath Connection Reprocessing" is needed to peel back the layers. It is nothing foreign—just real solutions with real results, a step-by-step progressive process that simulates the heightened senses that we face daily and brings us back to a fundamental foundation. This process desensitizes past physical, mental, and negative emotional attachments, feelings or thoughts and creates a positive and sustainable present and future. 

By consciously opening our eyes wide, past peripheral vision, the brain can stimulate regeneration growth, opening the mind up to new thought patterns. Through training and being aware of constant movement, the brain can change the mood of the perceived triggered reaction and remove the blinkers, which are blocking what the eyes are really seeing.

We push forward past good and bad events in our lives, and this is the process we all need to look at for ourselves, to see how we are moving forward, what did we do, how did it feel, what will we learn from it and how will we ultimately rise above it. 

Two experiences are universally shared among all of us: we all have dreams, and we all have obstacles pop up as we chase our dreams. We can either overcome the obstacles to reach our dreams, or we can cave and feel frustrated or anxious. The feeling of failure causes our inner critic to bring forth a weight of negative self-talk and self-doubt, creating self-made, perceived obstacles that aren't really in front of us at all. 

The 33 lessons in this book are:

The sum of what has been learned and experienced both intuitively and science based.

An understanding of all areas that add to our physical, mental, and emotional layers through life.

What it means to keep moving forward and the bigger picture.

At times a real and confronting look at ourselves to rebuild an infinite awareness and self-connection.

The lessons are the culmination of years of studying physical, mental, and emotional stress and trauma bringing awareness to why our conscious and subconscious gets stuck, and how we get past it. By studying and understanding the connection of breath, connection to self, and the connection of movement, we begin to process situations with a new perspective.

I am proud and excited to share these lessons with you!

CHAPTER 1

Level 1

CONNECT TO THE BREATH

The simple act of breathing can be taken for granted as it is an action we do subconsciously, without thought. Connecting to your breath is important to allow connection to our life source and our emotional energy. When we are babies, we intuitively breathe correctly, all the way down inflating our belly and exhaling through our mouth. Though school, peers, teachers and trauma can cause you to unlearn this skill and revert to shallow breathing into your chest, therefore losing this activity causes you to lose this connection, to not trust your intuitive thoughts, and sadly, begin to lose yourself.

The aim of Level 1 is to bring you back to your natural breathing performance, train your oxygen capacity to increase without force and teach you how the breath connection can calm and allow you to control your physical, mental and emotional levels.

Laying the foundation

Welcome to Level One. In this lesson, we will cover the core ideals, as well as give an overview of the structure of the foundational lessons you will learn through the book.

Throughout this part of your journey, you will discover that the most powerful tools you need to live a limitless life are already inside you and can be accessed at any time: your breath connection, your open awareness and your ability to look beyond a narrow vision. I am on a mission to inspire and change the lives of as many people as possible by helping them leverage the connection between the breath, body, and lifestyle to achieve an unshakeable sense of self well-being and spatial awareness to move forward past adversity, pain, and trauma. By learning, connecting and practicing the lessons in this book, you will begin your own natural journey in positively changing the lives of others around the world.

Calm your mind, clear the noise of fear and anger. Focus on the present moment and forward momentum in a clear and empowered way. Connect to the bigger picture of where you want to be and what you will achieve. The calm focus of the present moment and the clear vision moving forward will allow you to give thanks to your past struggles, as they have given you the strength and tools you will need to carry on. You can change the inner narrative and the hostile critic in your conscience to an unstoppable force that will remove anything in your path to achieve your greatest goals.

If you’re constantly searching, Goggling, or asking outside sources for advice to your life’s questions and problems, but you never seem to find the answers, these lessons will build that trust back into yourself.

If you’re disconnected from friends and family because of tension or conflict, these lessons will allow you to acknowledge, accept and move forward gaining new skills.

If you’re feeling distracted, unmotivated, and anxious, these lessons will expand your awareness to experience a new feeling of undeniable confidence and momentum.

Each lesson will take you step-by-step into a journey of integrating an open awareness into your daily life. There’s no need to clear your mind of all thoughts, spend hours sitting in silence, or have a yoga practice. You don’t need to have practiced meditation or you may even question what is meditation? These lessons will open your eyes to a different perspective of the world as it guides you through disconnecting to reconnect. Disconnect from the inner critic or negative people and situations around you and reconnect to the intuitive person you are: the real you!

We’ll begin with learning about connecting to the breath and practicing conscious breathing.

Throughout Level 1, you’ll learn to begin practicing a breath connection, expanding your mindset, exploring the senses, and incorporating movement and physical awareness into your focus and purpose.

As we move into Level 2, the lessons will deepen, and you’ll already be noticing results. You’ll also learn to connect your calm breath to the sense of sight as you experience life and the world around you in a wide eye and mind way, removing the emotional, mental and social blinkers so that you can begin to learn that the word Meditation has no boundaries or restrictions, nor should it be intimidating, confusing or some magical gift given to you by a Guru. Meditation is simply, disconnecting from the inner narrative and the world around you and reconnecting with your breath and yourself. DISCONNECT TO RE CONNECT.

In Level 3, you’ll learn to lengthen the exhale of your breath and begin to remove inner noise. Using your voice, you will practice stepping outside your comfort zone with the use of mantras and build confidence with your breath. By doing this method, you will increase your self-confidence and self-control, begin to build, listen and trust your intuition and explore endless possibilities.

During Level 4, we’ll discuss mind chatter and some of the ways human beings can struggle with the mind-body-self connection. We’ll take away the stigma and shame from these struggles and have a better understanding of why breath connection reprocessing can be a lifesaving tool for people in crisis.

Finally,