Today we’d like to introduce you to Don Neder.
Don, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I was born in Texas in 1953 and lived there until my mid 30’s before settling in Georgia 22 years ago (with stints in Virginia, Louisiana and Boston in between). My life was the basic life expected by parents from the Greatest Generation – get an education, get a job, get married and raise a family without a lot of room to fully express and find yourself. This wasn’t good or bad, I have a great family and had a great childhood and this was the only path I knew. However, after spending my career in sales and marketing, primarily in the technology industry, I went through a period of self-discovery. The unfortunate part is that this period in my life didn’t begin until my early 60’s. The most fortunate part is that the first lesson I learned is that it is never too late in life to change – who you are (find yourself,/passion/purpose), your health, the quality of your longevity, your mindset, your relationships, your interests, almost anything.
Looking back, the fascinating thing is that it truly was a metamorphosis. A change that I didn’t realize was happening until you look back or until your friends and family start asking, who are you? Let’s start this story In my early 60’s. I owned a small business in Norcross and each day l was in the continuous cycle of running a small business. Running a small business is hard and life absorbing. I loved what I did and my family was incredibly supportive of the hours I worked. However, my focus on the business let some important aspects of my health be ignored.
The catalyst for change happened at age 61 when I had a false health alarm. A blind spot appeared in one of my eyes. It happened twice in one week and lasted about 5 minutes each time. My Dr. ordered an ultrasound of my carotid arteries and when the results came back they showed blockages of over 90% on both sides! I literally thought I would die of a stroke at any moment. Next, I am referred to a cardiologist who has me go through several tests over the next week. The day comes when my wife and I are in his office to get the results. Of course, after consulting with Dr. Google I was guessing which of many surgeries my cardiologist was going to recommend. When he started the conversation with “why are you here” I was confused. It turns out my carotid arteries were 10 and 12% blocked, not unusual for my age. The Dr. who performed the ultrasound was wrong! He screwed up and put me through intense anxiety for over a week.
This event, besides relieving me and making me angry at the same time, forced me to ask questions of myself. I began questioning my inconsistent attempts at exercise, questioning my diet, questioning the seemingly lack of concern I had for my health and finally questioning how would I ever find the discipline I would need to make any kind of permanent change. To jump from doing very little to improve my health to being all in was just too much for me at the time.
How would I find the longevity I desired? I don’t just mean living a long time. When I think of longevity it has to include both my physical and mental health as one is no good without the other. So my mindset shifted from just being focused on my business to including my health. I started with what I now call “building blocks”. Individual parts to an overall healthy lifestyle that can be added as you grow. This is where the metamorphosis began and over the next 2 – 3 years I slowly adopted components of a healthy lifestyle. A son gave me a book on meditation, I heard about a book called Younger Next Year and started more aerobic exercises, another customer introduced me to Eckhart Tolle and his book The Power of Now, I began drinking more water, learned some yoga, cleaned up my diet, improved my sleep, cut out soda’s, reduced alcohol. Basically, I took lots of little steps that together would impact my longevity. This was a good start but not enough.
Fast forward 3 years. I have a daily routine that includes stretching, yoga, meditation, running, healthy sleep, balancing my work hours with my family hours. All of this set me up for what happened next. A customer walked into my business and started telling me about a Dutchman named Wim Hof and this awesome breathing technique and how long he could hold his breath and was taking cold showers. It sounded more like a parlor trick than a way to gain and maintain my health. But then I researched the Wim Hof Method that day and on my first attempt was able to hold my breath for over two minutes. Wow! I was going to win a lot of beer betting people I could hold my breath longer than them. But something else happened.
When I practiced the method it made me feel good. I had more energy and I seemed to deal with stress better. So I started researching the Wim Hof Method and learned the science behind it. For someone who avoided science classes in high school and college, I couldn’t read enough about what was happening in my body when I practiced the Wim Hof Method. I began to understand why I felt great, why I better handled stressful situations and why anxiety was minimized, was this the missing link to longevity I could enjoy?
The Wim Hof Method became the base for my “building blocks”. Not only that, it had such a profound impact on me that it became a passion of mine to better understand and to share with others. Enough so that I decided to apply to become an instructor for Wim so I could teach others how this simple technique could positively impact their lives. This is where my story really begins.
Over the last 4 years what I have learned about the body, our health and most importantly our mindset have set me on a journey of self-growth, self-love, control over my mind/body connection and a passion to bring the method to others. We all suffer from unnecessary disease, pain, anxiety and depression. But we don’t have to. I learned I have the power, we all have the power and control to reconnect with nature, to heal ourselves, to live in the present moment and to be the best us and to help others achieve the same things. I see others from a new perspective – one of love and hope for them to be able to live a life that provides the physical and mental health we all deserve.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I would not call the road up until my 60’s as smooth but it was a good life. There were significant ups and downs with plenty of self-inflicted crises. I let my subconscious mind control my life. Like most, I let myself be controlled by the feedback loops we develop as a result of past experiences. So my life was sort of self-perpetuating, but not in a healthy direction and sometimes led to poor choices. If we could do nothing more than break free of the limitations caused by our subconscious minds we each could take a significant step forward. This is what became my passion, to help others do just that.
Now enter my 60’s and my path is clearer, less wandering but now walking with purpose. I know why I’m here and what purpose my life can serve for others. Tools for real and lasting change are hard to come by.
We all face lifestyle choices. Notionally we know that our bodies need exercise, we know that our hearts need to be exercised and we know we should pay more attention to what we eat and drink. It’s no different than knowing we shouldn’t smoke but then not stopping. The issue is finding the motivation that creates the discipline that drives the commitment.
In the end, it’s a choice. As in many choices we make, the hard part is actually making the decision to begin with. Deciding to get up early every day to exercise was hard, committing to the time to practice the Wim Hof Method daily was hard, just stepping into a cold shower every day was hard. But once I started, I couldn’t believe how easy it was to continue.
We can all become the best us, the best me, the best you. The first step is making that decision, but then what? How do we start the process? It truly isn’t as hard as one might think. At the end of the day, we just need the guidance and tools that enable this change. We absolutely have the ability to change who we are and especially how we treat ourselves and others. From love of self, to love of life and to love of others, there is a path forward to escape that self-limiting subconscious mind. To live in the present moment.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Over these past 4 years, I have allowed myself to make many changes – to paint, to write, to explore, to challenge myself but maybe the most surprising was an emerging strong desire to help others. First, this was a result of developing a love of myself and accepting who I was, with all my success and failures that formed me along the way.
The beautiful thing is that there was so much to learn and discover, so much growth that was always right in front of me. Only I didn’t see it. That is the one regret I have now, that at the time I didn’t understand the changes I could make. I didn’t understand the internal chaos a fixed mindset could create and that I didn’t have to relinquish my conscious mind to my subconscious mind.
I’ve always had the internal power and ability to have control of my life, of my mind and of my body. But it wasn’t until I began practicing the Wim Hof Method that I understood this. All this power available to any.
What do I do now? I am an instructor for the Wim Hof Method. When I first learned the method it immediately affected me, inspired me and led me down an incredible path to self-love. That love for myself was the first step in having love for everyone. Like a cascading waterfall of snow melt water, my insights, abilities and passion grew more and more. I unleashed the loving me, the creative me, the curious me, the healer in me.
I began painting and have happily grown from a first grade level to middle school! I love experimenting and learning of my abilities with a paintbrush.
I began writing and there are days when words spew forth as fast as I can get them down. For now, I just enjoy the process of writing. There is no agenda, no final plan or book in the works. Just writing down words, thoughts and inspirations that are important to me. One day I hope to pull it all together, from poetry to prose, and see what I have. I will probably end up with a decent emotional roadmap to my personal enlightenment (I like Immanuel Kant’s definition – “Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-incurred immaturity”). I am the one who held myself back, I am the one that didn’t have the courage to practice conscious thinking, I was the one who not only refused to live in the present moment, I didn’t even understand that concept.
While I do understand that the past doesn’t exist, I am amazed now that I had let the past define who I was, to hold me back, to lead me to decisions based on false pretenses. Sounds harsh but what really is harsh is not knowing the difference between letting the past define who we are and learning to live in the present moment. Wow! What a liberating, revealing and loving change!
I took this discovery of “me” to a new level by beginning a hike of the Appalachian Trail earlier this year. Even though I had to leave the trail after 636 miles due to an injury, I could go on for pages writing about what it was like connecting with nature. That connection opened greater insights to my true self, to understanding my purpose and to seeing love in everything and everyone. All I can say is that it was incredible. And the doors that I’ve opened are doors of opportunity. Opportunity to express myself with paint and a brush, to know myself with writing, to deepen my understanding of love and life and why I’m here, to challenge myself and learn how to continuously grow and to help others.
So, what do I do? I teach, I paint, I hike, I write, I love. Through my Wim Hof Method classes, I help others start on their own path of self-awareness and belief in themselves. I show others how to access their mind/body connection. How to cross that barrier between the unconscious and conscious mind and how to accept the responsibility of conscious thinking and its path to self-love.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
I love talking about mindset, love and life and the most effective tool I have to do that is by teaching the Wim Hof Method. It is like a portal to our minds, opening our awareness in a beautiful way. Showing others how to not only support their physical and mental health but to go beyond that and build a lifetime of inner peace and self-love. I promise, their future self will thank them.
I typically have public classes twice per month usually in Snellville at the Serenity Salt Cave and in Alpharetta at the Alpharetta Wellness Collective.
Besides my public classes, I schedule private classes for 1 or a group and I also work with companies that are interested in wellness programs for their employees.
In addition, I created a Meet Up group (meetup.com) called the Georgia Wim Hof Method and Wellness Meet Up Group. Anyone interested can join the group and the Meet Ups are free and meet a few times per year. Typically we either meet early on a Sunday morning and hike up Stone Mountain to enjoy group breathing during sunrise (you don’t have to know the Wim Hof Method to participate) or in the winter months we get into the cold water of Vickery Creek in Roswell.
As mentioned several times, I am passionate about helping others and am always happy to connect via email or for coffee.
Pricing:
- My public Wim Hof Method classes are $100. The class is about 4 hours long and includes an ice bath. After the class, you will understand how to practice the Wim Hof Method, the science of what is happening inside your body and how you can use the method to gain control of your conscious mind.
- My Meet Up events at Stone Mountain and Vickery Creek are free.
Contact Info:
- Email: don@flowgevity.com
- Website: www.flowgevity.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/dcneder
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/dneder
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9zl-VdzLTXpW6C6yT0957Q
Image Credits:
Don Neder
